The Monitor announced its plans in October to end its daily print edition and become the first major international paper to embrace digital media.

Earlier this month the Seattle-Post Intelligencer announced it was ending its print publication and moving entirely online.

John Yemma

The Monitor says that by discontinuing its five times a week print edition it will reduce current net losses of $18.9 million a year on $12.5 million in revenue to $10.5 million within five years.

Editor John Yemma says the paper will still offer a weekly print edition for subscribers and it will launch a daily e-mail newsletter in May. The main focus will be on its Web site CSMonitor.com, which attracts 2.5 million unique visitors a month.

"Websites need to be straightforward and not have a lot of complexity in them – the differentiator for you is your content," Mr. Yemma told the World Editors Forum in an online seminar.

"We aren’t using any fancy new applications," he said. "The best route for financial viability is more or less continuous updating on the web. It’s just continuous content without technological impediment – that’s the fastest way to grow. We want our journalists reporting, not learning archaic coding or flash graphics."

The Boston-based Monitor will maintain an assignment desk with 30 writers and 30 editors, eight overseas bureaus, eight domestic bureaus and a Washington bureau. The Web site will have an eight-to 10-person production staff. One editorial person will oversee the daily newsletter, and 12 the weekly newspaper.

"Our journalists are going to be very busy. They’re going to write a bit shorter and much faster," said Yemma.

In April of 2009 the Monitor said it will introduce an updated version of its Web site, CSMonitor.com, and launch a weekly print edition and a daily online subscription.

By making the move to a daily online publication, the Monitor is the first major international newspaper to embrace digital media.

The Monitor expects that by discontinuing its five times a week print edition to reduce its current net losses of $18.9 million a year on $12.5 million in revenue to $10.5 million within five years.

The Monitor says its new online edition will feature reporting seven days a week with continuously updated stories. Its new weekly edition will feature in-depth coverage in a print format.

In addition to the updated Web site the Monitor will offer a new daily newsletter that will be available by email.

"Like much of the news industry, the Monitor has embraced online reporting and is now one of the first publications to treat its Web site as its primary publishing format," said John Yemma, editor of the Monitor.

"The Christian Science Monitor recognizes that daily print has become too costly and energy-intensive. Online journalism is more timely and is rapidly expanding its reach, especially among younger readers," said Yemma.

"There’s still a role for print, but one that is geared to weekends, when people still can find time to catch up, look behind the headlines, and experience the pleasures of print. Our shift to a Web-first, multiplatform strategy is likely to be watched by others in the news industry as they contemplate similar moves."