'Christian Science Monitor' Shifts Gears

Remember how exotic it seemed back in October when the Christian Science Monitor first laid out its plan to abandon daily print publication in favor of a breaking-news website and a weekly magazine?

Feels like eons ago now, doesn't it? Since then, some newspapers have gone web-only, others have cut back distribution to a few days a week, and still others have shut down altogether.

Of course, ditching print for digital is no guarantee of salvation -- far from it. Still, Monitor editor John Yemma is glad his paper found a way to surf the leading edge of the wave of change rather than getting dragged along in its tow like so many others. "I think that's important for our newsroom, to feel like we have a coherent plan that isn't just about doing less, cutting back," he says. "If we'd waited even until the end of the year..."

Today is the Monitor's's final day as a daily. The first edition of its weekly incarnation comes out April 12. Here's the cover of the prototype:

Yemma says it will retain the spirit of the paper in its focus on international news and its emphasis on finding answers to complex issues in the news rather than just describing them. "We're solution-oriented," he says. "We try to find ways to solve the problem, or to find people who are solving problem."

That's an appropriate mindset for a newspaper that, while it may no longer be unique, is still being closely watched throughout the industry as the test case of a new, unproven business model. Yemma says he'll be happy if other newspapers can benefit from insights generated by the Monitor's experience. "I feel like this is a high-wire act that we're all doing."