The New York Sun

Inside The New York Sun’s spacious Chambers Street offices on Tuesday, Sept. 30, the old-fashioned journalistic decorum that had defined the paper’s culture was nowhere in sight. The 20-somethings that made up the reporting ranks were in for one last time wearing blue jeans and T-shirts—a far cry from the conservative broadsheet’s long-standing dress code, which required reporters to come in with polished shoes and nice suits. “It’s the casual Friday that The Sun never had,” said Grace Rauh, the 29-year-old city hall reporter.

On this paper’s final day, reporters turned in their keys and began throwing away all the clutter on their desks into giant blue recyclable bins; they filled out paperwork and dumped their precious objects into a Sun tote bag that a lady from human resources had handed out.  read more »

The newsroom of the recently deceased New York Sun took a star turn in 2006 when it served as a setting in the Hollywood blockbuster The Devil Wears Prada.

In the film, the main character, Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs, has decided to leave the corrupting and cynical influences of the fashion biz to follow her true passion—in the corrupting and cynical world of the newspaper biz. We see her meeting with an editor in the paper’s appropriately disheveled offices, a rolodex on his desk, papers piled high behind Ms. Hathaway’s head, light streaming through the arched windows.

Now, with the demise of New York’s only right-leaning daily broadsheet, those offices will take yet another star turn on some broker’s office vacancy list.  read more »

In the newspaper's own obituary, a history of the newspaper's six and a half years as told by its editors and more. The material is surprisingly frank, in a way normally reserved for the newspaper's editorials, about the politics of its mission, but it's all pretty fascinating and worth reading.

Contribute to some great journalists' severance packages by buying a copy at the newsstand, but if you can't make it there yet you can get it all here.

Michael Bloomberg just sent out a statement on the Sun:

In a City saturated with news coverage and commentary, The Sun shone brightly, though too briefly. Whether you agreed or disagreed with the Sun’s writers, they were smart, thoughtful, provocative – and sometimes even courageous. What other paper in America urged Dick Cheney to run for President? The Sun launched the careers of many talented and dedicated journalists, whose stories often raised the bar for their competitors. I am sorry to see the Sun halt its presses and send my best wishes to all labored so hard to make it a success, especially Seth Lipsky and Ira Stoll.

"I told the staff," said Seth Lipsky, editor of The New York Sun, "that I tend to be an optimist. And I held out hope for a favorable outcome as late as mid-afternoon today."

By 4 P.M., Mr. Lipsky was informing his staff that the Sun would fold, and tomorrow's edition would be their last.

"You know it has been the honor of my life to be in the harness with this group of journalists and I did what I wanted to do," he said.

Media Mob asked about how difficult it is to hang it up, particularly in the middle of an enormously important news day in New York.

"I agree, it’s a tremendous story, but I'm very focused on putting out tomorrow's paper," he said.

He said that the Sun would publish his comments to the staff on its Web site.

The paper's spokesman confirms that The New York Sun will publish its final paper tomorrow.

UPDATE 4:55 P.M.: Seth Lipsky informed reporters and editors of the news at a little after 4 P.M this afternoon. At first, staffers were unaware what the meeting would be about: Would there be a lifeline? Would the paper die?

Mr. Lipsky stood up with a microphone in hand, and read a letter that will appear on the front page of tomorrow's paper, a staffer said. He said little else other than explaining that staffers will have to come in tomorrow to fill out paperwork.

After his speech, staffers applauded and scurried back to their desks to finish closing the final edition of the Sun.

UPDATE 5:35 P.M.: Lipsky: 'Held Out Hope' For Sun Until This Afternoon

UPDATE 6:40 P.M.: Michael Bloomberg Says Farewell to the 'Smart, Thoughtful, Provocative' Sun

A spokesman told Portfolio's Mixed Media blogger Jeff Bercovici that the paper comes out tomorrow, but couldn't say anything more.

A staffer there told us that the paper is being prepared as it normally would—even if everyone is peering over their shoulder wondering if Seth Lipsky or Ira Stoll is about to call the troops into a meeting.

Thus far, no meeting has been scheduled.

The New York Sun published a story today that quoted ex-politicians and a few semi-retired journalists saying that it would be a terrible thing if the newspaper closed later this month. In his first public interview since resigning, Eliot Spitzer says, "The Sun has been a spectacular addition to the city's political discourse and is one of the finest papers in terms of editing, writing, and analysis that one can find anywhere." (The Sun was one of the few outlets sympathetic towards Mr. Spitzer when he found himself engulfed in scandal in March.)

Also quoted:

• Mario Cuomo
• George Pataki
• John Bolton, former American ambassador to the UN
• Philippe de Montebello, the outgoing director of Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Peter Kann, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal
• Sir Harold Evans, former editor of The London Times
• Peter Osnos, former editor at The Washington Post
• Nat Hentoff, columnist for Village Voice

The paper still, however, needs to find money.  read more »

Only days after the Sun announced that it might close at the end of the month, the paper's city editor David Lombino said today is his last day at the paper, and in journalism altogether. Here's the email he just sent out to staff, and friends:

From: David Lombino <dlombino@nysun.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 12:08:23 -0400
To: David Lombino <dlombino@nysun.com>
Subject: Moving on

Hi all:

Apologies for the mass email. I wanted to let you know that today is my last day at The New York Sun. Starting Monday I'll be serving in a new capacity as Vice President of Public Affairs at the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

My contact info as of 9/15 will be:

xxx@nycedc.com
212-xxx-xxxx

My personal cell phone remains 917-xxx-xxxx.

Thanks, talk to you very soon.

Dave

Seth Lipsky, editor of The New York Sun, tells Media Mob he isn't sure this is the tightest spot his paper has ever been in.

"There have been some very close moments," he said. "Very close moments."

He added that this was the first time the paper has published a message to its readers about its financial crisis in its own newspaper (or on its Web site).

When asked about the overall financial pressures in the paper, he said, "I don't know how to answer that. There's cost pressure. It's been across the board."

"Some costs have been rising, including our distribution costs, and the sort," he said.  read more »

Media Mob has learned that The New York Sun will be forced to shut down by the end of the month if it doesn't find new ways to fund the paper.

"We're publishing a statement that will say the paper may have to close at the end of September unless we succeed in our efforts to find additional financial backing," said Seth Lipsky, the editor of The New York Sun.

He said the statement will be published in tomorrow's newspaper, and that it will go online this evening.

He added caution: "I would encourage you not to assume that the paper is doomed. Well, read the statement. It fills in more of the details."