Christian Science Monitor's conversion to a magazine turning out well

A while back the story was that the venerable Christian Science Monitor was converting from being a daily newspaper to a weekly print magazine supported by a daily-updated website. At the time, there were hopes, but not much evidence, that the plan would work and stanch the losses that the highly respected publication was experiencing. Well, the results are in and, far from being yet another casualty of changing times, the CSM may be turning out to be a beacon for other publications about adaptation.

According to a report on MediaDaily News, the publication not only converted 90% of its subscribers to the new weekly/online experience, but gained a large number of new subscribers; it grew from about 40,000 when the weekly was launched to about 77,000 now. The website attracted 5 million unique visitors in March, with 14 million page views. And all without giving up any of the publication's traditional strengths of insightful reporting on social and foreign policy issues. The editor in chief, John Yemma, speculates that the publication may grow to more than 100,000 readers in a "steady, organic growth".