New York Sun
Encyclopedia
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City
from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead
of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun (1833-1950), it became the first general-interest broadsheet
newspaper to be started in New York in several decades.
, with the intent of providing an alternative to The New York Times
, featuring front page news pertaining to local and state events, in contrast to the Times' emphasis on national and international news. It began business operations, prior to first publication, in October 2001.
The newspaper's president and editor-in-chief was Seth Lipsky
, former editor of The Forward
. Its managing editor was Ira Stoll
, who also served as a company vice-president. The paper's motto
, displayed on its masthead and website, was "It Shines For All", also the name of a blog
that was part of the Suns online presence. Stoll had been a longtime critic of the Times in his media watchdog blog smartertimes.com. When smartertimes.com became defunct, its Web traffic was redirected to the Sun website.
Published from the Cary Building
in lower Manhattan
, it ceased print publication on September 30, 2008. Its website resumed activity on April 28, 2009, but only contains a small subset of the original content of the paper, mostly focusing on editorials rather than news content.
would champion "limited government, individual liberty, constitutional fundamentals, equality under the law, economic growth ... standards in literature and culture, education." Another goal, said Lipsky, was "to seize the local beat from which The New York Times was retreating as it sought to become a national newspaper." Stoll characterized the Sun' s political orientation as "right-of-center
", and an associate of Conrad Black predicted in 2002 that the paper would be neoconservative in its outlook.
The Suns roster of columnists included many prominent conservative and neoconservative pundits, including William F. Buckley, Jr.
, Michael Barone
, Daniel Pipes
, and Mark Steyn
.
The Sun supported President George W. Bush
and his decision to launch the Iraq War in 2003, and courted controversy with an unsigned February 6, 2003, editorial arguing that protesters against the war
should be prosecuted for treason
.
The paper also urged strong action against the perceived threat of the Islamic Republic of Iran
and was also known for its forceful coverage of Jewish-related issues and advocacy for Israel's right of self-defense as evidenced in articles by pro-Israel reporter Aaron Klein
.
The Sun established a readership niche for itself in New York. Alex Jones
of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy said, "It was a newspaper especially savored by people who don't like The New York Times, and there are plenty of those in New York." The paper also scored more scoops
than would be expected for its size and Stephen B. Shepard
, dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
, said that its effective coverage of local news earned it a place in the New York media world. Accordingly, it was known as a good place for young, ambitious, scrappy reporters to start out in.
According to Scott Sherman, writing in The Nation
in April 2007, the Sun was "a broadsheet that injects conservative ideology into the country's most influential philanthropic, intellectual and media hub; a paper whose day-to-day coverage of New York City emphasizes lower taxes, school vouchers and free-market solutions to urban problems; a paper whose elegant culture pages hold their own against the Times in quality and sophistication; a paper that breaks news and crusades on a single issue; a paper that functions as a journalistic SWAT team against individuals and institutions seen as hostile to Israel and Jews; and a paper that unapologetically displays the scalps of its victims."
In the same article, Mark Malloch Brown
, Kofi Annan
's chief of staff at the United Nations
, described the Sun as "a pimple on the backside of American journalism." According to Sherman, Brown "accepts that the paper's obsession with the UN translates into influence... he admitted the Sun "does punch way above its circulation number, on occasion." He goes on to say, "Clearly amongst its minuscule circulation were a significant number of diplomats. And so it did at times act as some kind of rebel house paper inside the UN. It fed the gossip mills and what was said in the cafeterias." Brown's insult was in the context of the Sun's reporting of the UN's central role in the Saddam Hussein
Oil-for-Food scandal.
In May 2007, Adweek
columnist Tom Messner called the Sun "the best paper in New York", noting that "The New York Sun is a conservative paper, but it gets the respect of the left. The Nations April 30 issue contains an article on the Sun's rise by Scott Sherman that is as balanced an article as I have ever read in the magazine (not a gibe; you don't read The Nation for balance)."
Catholic commentator Richard John Neuhaus
, writing in First Things
, described the Sun as a paper that had, “made itself nearly indispensable for New Yorkers”.
s as Adam Kirsch
on literature, Jay Nordlinger
on classical music, Joel Lobenthal on dance, Lance Esplund, Maureen Mullarkey, and David Cohen on art, Francis Morrone
on art and architecture, Otto Penzler
on mystery writing, Eric Ormsby
on poetry, Carl Rollyson on biography, Amanda Gordon as society editor and Will Friedwald
on jazz. The Sun also received critical praise for its sports section, whose writers included Steven Goldman
, Thomas Hauser
, Sean Lahman
, Tim Marchman
, and John Hollinger
. Its crossword
puzzle, edited by Peter Gordon, was called one of the two best in the United States. It also published the first regular wine column in a New York newspaper, "Along the Wine Trail", written by G. Selmer Fougner
.
In its first edition, the paper carried the solution to the last crossword
puzzle of the earlier Sun published in 1950.
, the loss of advertising revenue to the Internet, and the rise of new media
, and from the beginning faced a struggle for existence. At the time of its creation, one media financial analyst said its chances of survival were "pretty grim", while another media commentator characterized it as "the unlikeliest of propositions".
It was underfunded from the start, with ten investors putting up a total of only about $15 million. Beyond Conrad Black, who pulled out in 2003, these included hedge fund managers Michael Steinhardt
and Bruce Kovner
, private equity fund manager Thomas J. Tisch, and financier and think tank figure Roger Hertog
.
The Suns physical plant, in the Cary Building
at Church Street and Chambers Street in lower Manhattan
, was antiquated, with malfunctioning telephones and computers, a trouble-prone elevator and fire alarm system, and dubious bathroom plumbing.
Nevertheless, Lipsky had hopes of breaking even within the first year of operation.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations confirmed that in its first six months of publication the Sun had an average circulation of just under 18,000. By 2005 the paper reported an estimated circulation of 45,000. In December 2005, the Sun withdrew from the Audit Bureau of Circulations to join the Certified Audit of Circulations, whose other New York clients are the free papers The Village Voice
and amNewYork
, and began an aggressive campaign of free distribution in select neighborhoods.
While the Sun claimed "150,000 of New York City's Most Influential Readers Every Day", the Suns own audit indicated that it was actually selling about 14,000 copies a day while giving away anywhere from 66,000 to 85,000 a day. (The New York Daily News sold about 700,000 copies a day during that period.) It offered free subscriptions for a full year to residents in advertiser-desired zip codes; indeed, this and other uses of controlled circulation made it more attractive to advertisers but further diminished its chances of ever becoming profitable.
Similarly, the Suns online edition was accessible for free since August 2006.
The Sun acquired the web address www.LatestPolitics.com in 2007.
In a letter to readers published on the front page of the September 4, 2008, edition, Lipsky announced that the paper had suffered substantial losses and would "cease publication at the end of September unless we succeed in our efforts to find additional financial backing." In particular, the paper's existing backers would not put forward more money unless new backers with capital were found. Whatever chance that funding had of materializing was negated by the rapid onset of the late-2000s financial crisis
, and the Sun ceased publication on September 30, 2008. It had about 110 employees at that time, and also made use of many freelance writers. Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg
commented that "The Sun shone brightly, though too briefly," and that its writers were "smart, thoughtful, provocative".
quoted Lipsky as saying not to read too much into the initial items since "...a business plan for the site is still in formation," and "...these are just some very, very early bulbs of spring (or late winter)."
Since that time, the website has continued to publish editorials and op-ed commentaries at irregular intervals and, more recently, frequent contributions from economist and noted television commentator Lawrence Kudlow
. Some new arts content has also been produced, but there is virtually no straight news reporting and several of the website's top-level menu items still show the most recent content as being from September 2008 when the newspaper closed.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead
Masthead (publishing)
The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...
of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun (1833-1950), it became the first general-interest broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
newspaper to be started in New York in several decades.
History
The Sun was founded by a group of investors including publishing magnate Conrad BlackConrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, KCSG, PC is a Canadian-born member of the British House of Lords, and a historian, columnist and publisher, who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world. Lord Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc...
, with the intent of providing an alternative to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, featuring front page news pertaining to local and state events, in contrast to the Times
The newspaper's president and editor-in-chief was Seth Lipsky
Seth Lipsky
Seth Lipsky is the founder and editor of the New York Sun, an independent conservative daily in New York City that ceased its print edition on September 30, 2008. Lipsky counts Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill, Ariel Sharon, and Milton Friedman among his intellectual and...
, former editor of The Forward
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
. Its managing editor was Ira Stoll
Ira Stoll
Ira Stoll is editor of FutureOfCapitalism.com. He was vice president and managing editor of The New York Sun, which was published from 2002 to 2008. Previously, he served as Washington correspondent and managing editor of The Forward and as North American editor of the Jerusalem Post...
, who also served as a company vice-president. The paper's motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
, displayed on its masthead and website, was "It Shines For All", also the name of a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
that was part of the Suns online presence. Stoll had been a longtime critic of the Times in his media watchdog blog smartertimes.com. When smartertimes.com became defunct, its Web traffic was redirected to the Sun website.
Published from the Cary Building
Cary Building (New York City)
The five-storey Cary Building is a cast-iron fronted building with twin facades on Chambers Street and Reade Street in New York City. The partnership of Gamaliel King and John Kellum was apparently responsible for its design, which was cast in Daniel D. Badger's Architectural Iron Works in...
in lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
, it ceased print publication on September 30, 2008. Its website resumed activity on April 28, 2009, but only contains a small subset of the original content of the paper, mostly focusing on editorials rather than news content.
Editorial perspective and reception
Editor-in-chief Lipsky remarked that the paper's prominent op-ed pageEditorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
would champion "limited government, individual liberty, constitutional fundamentals, equality under the law, economic growth ... standards in literature and culture, education." Another goal, said Lipsky, was "to seize the local beat from which The New York Times was retreating as it sought to become a national newspaper." Stoll characterized the Sun
Left-Right politics
The left–right political spectrum is a common way of classifying political positions, political ideologies, or political parties along a one-dimensional political spectrum. The perspective of Left vs. Right is a binary interpretation of complex questions...
", and an associate of Conrad Black predicted in 2002 that the paper would be neoconservative in its outlook.
The Suns roster of columnists included many prominent conservative and neoconservative pundits, including William F. Buckley, Jr.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...
, Michael Barone
Michael Barone (pundit)
Michael Barone is a conservative American political analyst, pundit and journalist. He is best known for being the principal author of The Almanac of American Politics, a reference work concerning US governors and federal politicians, and published biennially by National Journal...
, Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum and its Campus Watch project, and editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal...
, and Mark Steyn
Mark Steyn
Mark Steyn is a Canadian-born writer, conservative-leaning political commentator, and cultural critic. He has written five books, including America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, a New York Times bestseller...
.
The Sun supported President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and his decision to launch the Iraq War in 2003, and courted controversy with an unsigned February 6, 2003, editorial arguing that protesters against the war
Protests against the Iraq War
Beginning in 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world...
should be prosecuted for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
.
The paper also urged strong action against the perceived threat of the Islamic Republic of Iran
and was also known for its forceful coverage of Jewish-related issues and advocacy for Israel's right of self-defense as evidenced in articles by pro-Israel reporter Aaron Klein
Aaron Klein
Aaron Klein is an American author, Middle East correspondent, head of the Jerusalem bureau for WorldNetDaily , columnist for The Jewish Press, and a radio talk show host who, among other things, is known for interviewing middle eastern political figures, along with various leaders of terrorist...
.
The Sun established a readership niche for itself in New York. Alex Jones
Alex Jones (journalist)
Alex S. Jones is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has been director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government since July 1, 2000. Jones is also a lecturer at the school, occupying the Laurence M...
of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy said, "It was a newspaper especially savored by people who don't like The New York Times, and there are plenty of those in New York." The paper also scored more scoops
Scoop (term)
Scoop is an informal term used in journalism. The word connotes originality, importance, surprise or excitement, secrecy and exclusivity.Stories likely considered to be scoops are important news, likely to interest or concern many people. A scoop is typically a new story, or a new aspect to an...
than would be expected for its size and Stephen B. Shepard
Stephen B. Shepard
Stephen B. Shepard is an American business journalist and academic who served as editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek magazine and was the founding dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism...
, dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism is a public graduate journalism school located in New York City. One of the 23 institutions comprising the City University of New York, or CUNY, the school opened in 2006...
, said that its effective coverage of local news earned it a place in the New York media world. Accordingly, it was known as a good place for young, ambitious, scrappy reporters to start out in.
According to Scott Sherman, writing in The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
in April 2007, the Sun was "a broadsheet that injects conservative ideology into the country's most influential philanthropic, intellectual and media hub; a paper whose day-to-day coverage of New York City emphasizes lower taxes, school vouchers and free-market solutions to urban problems; a paper whose elegant culture pages hold their own against the Times in quality and sophistication; a paper that breaks news and crusades on a single issue; a paper that functions as a journalistic SWAT team against individuals and institutions seen as hostile to Israel and Jews; and a paper that unapologetically displays the scalps of its victims."
In the same article, Mark Malloch Brown
Mark Malloch Brown
George Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown, KCMG, PC is a former Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British government with responsibility for Africa, Asia and the United Nations...
, Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
's chief of staff at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, described the Sun as "a pimple on the backside of American journalism." According to Sherman, Brown "accepts that the paper's obsession with the UN translates into influence... he admitted the Sun "does punch way above its circulation number, on occasion." He goes on to say, "Clearly amongst its minuscule circulation were a significant number of diplomats. And so it did at times act as some kind of rebel house paper inside the UN. It fed the gossip mills and what was said in the cafeterias." Brown's insult was in the context of the Sun's reporting of the UN's central role in the Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
Oil-for-Food scandal.
In May 2007, Adweek
Adweek
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....
columnist Tom Messner called the Sun "the best paper in New York", noting that "The New York Sun is a conservative paper, but it gets the respect of the left. The Nations April 30 issue contains an article on the Sun's rise by Scott Sherman that is as balanced an article as I have ever read in the magazine (not a gibe; you don't read The Nation for balance)."
Catholic commentator Richard John Neuhaus
Richard John Neuhaus
Richard John Neuhaus was a prominent Christian cleric and writer. Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United States where he became a naturalized United States citizen...
, writing in First Things
First Things
First Things is an ecumenical journal focused on creating a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society". The journal is inter-denominational and inter-religious, representing a broad intellectual tradition of Christian and Jewish critique of contemporary society...
, described the Sun as a paper that had, “made itself nearly indispensable for New Yorkers”.
Features
The New York Sun was well known for its learned, serious, but still accessible arts coverage, which included such criticCritic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s as Adam Kirsch
Adam Kirsch
Adam Kirsch is an American poet and literary critic.-Early life and education:Kirsch is the son of lawyer, author, and biblical scholar Jonathan Kirsch, and a 1997 graduate of Harvard College.-Career:...
on literature, Jay Nordlinger
Jay Nordlinger
Jay Nordlinger is an American journalist. He is a senior editor of National Review, the conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. He also writes a column for the magazine’s website, "National...
on classical music, Joel Lobenthal on dance, Lance Esplund, Maureen Mullarkey, and David Cohen on art, Francis Morrone
Francis Morrone
Francis Morrone is an American architectural historian noted for his work on the built history of New York City.Morrone's essays on architecture have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, City Journal, American Arts Quarterly, the New Criterion and the New York Times. He was a columnist for the New...
on art and architecture, Otto Penzler
Otto Penzler
Otto Penzler is an editor of mystery fiction in the United States, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, where he lives.-Biography:...
on mystery writing, Eric Ormsby
Eric Ormsby
Eric Linn Ormsby, born in Atlanta in 1941, is a poet, a scholar, and a man of letters. He was a longtime resident of Montreal, where he was the Director of University Libraries and subsequently a professor of Islamic thought at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University...
on poetry, Carl Rollyson on biography, Amanda Gordon as society editor and Will Friedwald
Will Friedwald
Will Friedwald is an American author and music critic. He has written for such newspapers as The New York Times, The Village Voice, Newsday, The New York Observer, and The New York Sun, and for such magazines as Entertainment Weekly, Oxford American, New York, Mojo, BBC Music Magazine, Stereo...
on jazz. The Sun also received critical praise for its sports section, whose writers included Steven Goldman
Steven Goldman
Steven Goldman is a sports writer on baseball and a commentator on the New York Yankees and at times on the New York Mets. Goldman writes "The Pinstriped Bible" and "The Pinstriped Blog" for the Yankees' YES Network website...
, Thomas Hauser
Thomas Hauser
Thomas Hauser is an American author.He made his debut as a writer in 1978 with The Execution of Charles Horman; An American Sacrifice. Horman's wife, Joyce and father, Ed Horman cooperated with Hauser on the book describing both the fate of Charles and his family's quest to uncover the truth in...
, Sean Lahman
Sean Lahman
Sean Lahman is an award-winning author and journalist.-Sports Research:He is most noted for the Lahman Baseball Database, a collection of baseball statistics for every team and player in Major League history...
, Tim Marchman
Tim Marchman
Tim Marchman is a baseball columnist who most recently wrote for the now-defunct New York Sun newspaper. His columns focus on the New York Yankees and New York Mets, as well as other Major League Baseball teams.-External links:* Author archive....
, and John Hollinger
John Hollinger
John Hollinger is an analyst and writer for ESPN. He primarily covers the NBA. Hollinger grew up in Mahwah, New Jersey and is a 1993 graduate of the University of Virginia....
. Its crossword
Crossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right, the answer...
puzzle, edited by Peter Gordon, was called one of the two best in the United States. It also published the first regular wine column in a New York newspaper, "Along the Wine Trail", written by G. Selmer Fougner
G. Selmer Fougner
G. Selmer Fougner was a wine and restaurant critic best known for his column "Along the Wine Trail."-Life:...
.
In its first edition, the paper carried the solution to the last crossword
Crossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right, the answer...
puzzle of the earlier Sun published in 1950.
Financial problems, circulation, and end of print run
The Sun was started up in 2002 in the face of the long-term decline of newspapers in the United StatesNewspapers in the United States
Newspapers have declined in their influence and penetration into American households over the years. The closest thing to a national paper the U.S. has is USA Today, which along with the influential dailies the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal are sold in most U.S...
, the loss of advertising revenue to the Internet, and the rise of new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
, and from the beginning faced a struggle for existence. At the time of its creation, one media financial analyst said its chances of survival were "pretty grim", while another media commentator characterized it as "the unlikeliest of propositions".
It was underfunded from the start, with ten investors putting up a total of only about $15 million. Beyond Conrad Black, who pulled out in 2003, these included hedge fund managers Michael Steinhardt
Michael Steinhardt
Michael H. Steinhardt is an American investor and philanthropist active in Jewish causes. He was one of the first prominent hedge fund managers, and is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He founded Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., a hedge fund, in 1967...
and Bruce Kovner
Bruce Kovner
Bruce Stanley Kovner is an American businessman. He is the founder and Chairman of Caxton Associates, a hedge fund that trades a global macro strategy and is considered amongst the worlds top and largest 10 hedge funds with an estimated $14 billion under management...
, private equity fund manager Thomas J. Tisch, and financier and think tank figure Roger Hertog
Roger Hertog
Roger Hertog is an American businessman, financier and conservative philanthropist. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, New York, Hertog pursued a career in business....
.
The Suns physical plant, in the Cary Building
Cary Building (New York City)
The five-storey Cary Building is a cast-iron fronted building with twin facades on Chambers Street and Reade Street in New York City. The partnership of Gamaliel King and John Kellum was apparently responsible for its design, which was cast in Daniel D. Badger's Architectural Iron Works in...
at Church Street and Chambers Street in lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
, was antiquated, with malfunctioning telephones and computers, a trouble-prone elevator and fire alarm system, and dubious bathroom plumbing.
Nevertheless, Lipsky had hopes of breaking even within the first year of operation.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations confirmed that in its first six months of publication the Sun had an average circulation of just under 18,000. By 2005 the paper reported an estimated circulation of 45,000. In December 2005, the Sun withdrew from the Audit Bureau of Circulations to join the Certified Audit of Circulations, whose other New York clients are the free papers The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
and amNewYork
AM New York
amNewYork is a morning free daily newspaper , published in New York City by Cablevision. According to the company, average daily distribution as of December 2008 was 345,053, according to MondoNewspapers.com. When the newspaper launched October 10, 2003, amNewYork was the first newspaper of its...
, and began an aggressive campaign of free distribution in select neighborhoods.
While the Sun claimed "150,000 of New York City's Most Influential Readers Every Day", the Suns own audit indicated that it was actually selling about 14,000 copies a day while giving away anywhere from 66,000 to 85,000 a day. (The New York Daily News sold about 700,000 copies a day during that period.) It offered free subscriptions for a full year to residents in advertiser-desired zip codes; indeed, this and other uses of controlled circulation made it more attractive to advertisers but further diminished its chances of ever becoming profitable.
Similarly, the Suns online edition was accessible for free since August 2006.
The Sun acquired the web address www.LatestPolitics.com in 2007.
In a letter to readers published on the front page of the September 4, 2008, edition, Lipsky announced that the paper had suffered substantial losses and would "cease publication at the end of September unless we succeed in our efforts to find additional financial backing." In particular, the paper's existing backers would not put forward more money unless new backers with capital were found. Whatever chance that funding had of materializing was negated by the rapid onset of the late-2000s financial crisis
Late-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
, and the Sun ceased publication on September 30, 2008. It had about 110 employees at that time, and also made use of many freelance writers. Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
commented that "The Sun shone brightly, though too briefly," and that its writers were "smart, thoughtful, provocative".
Online version 2009–present
Despite the closure of the newspaper, the New York Sun website renewed activity on April 28, 2009, prompting some observers to consider the possible implications. Michael Calderone of PoliticoPolitico (newspaper)
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
quoted Lipsky as saying not to read too much into the initial items since "...a business plan for the site is still in formation," and "...these are just some very, very early bulbs of spring (or late winter)."
Since that time, the website has continued to publish editorials and op-ed commentaries at irregular intervals and, more recently, frequent contributions from economist and noted television commentator Lawrence Kudlow
Lawrence Kudlow
Lawrence "Larry" Kudlow is an American economist, television personality, and newspaper columnist. He is the host of CNBC's The Kudlow Report. As a syndicated columnist, his articles appear in numerous U.S. newspapers and web sites, including his own blog, Kudlow's Money Politic$.-Early...
. Some new arts content has also been produced, but there is virtually no straight news reporting and several of the website's top-level menu items still show the most recent content as being from September 2008 when the newspaper closed.