Seth Lipsky

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 »

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.

 

Is today's the last edition of The New York Sun?

It's a question we posed to the newspaper's spokesman, Michael Moi, last night after rumors intensified once again that the Sept. 29th issue of the newspaper would indeed be the last, and he didn't say.

He wrote: "We appreciate the concern, and when the future of the Sun clarifies, we will let our readers know what it is. And until then, we will have no comment."

A memo reproduced on gawker.com which the Web site reported had been sent to freelance writers by a Sun editor read, in part, "The New York Sun, which launched in 2002, will print its final edition on Monday, Sept. 29."  read more »

Gawker is reporting that it's been "told" that The New York Sun will fold on Monday. For now, the Sun's editor and its spokesman will not comment.

"I don't want to comment on that," said Sun editor Seth Lipsky, when reached by phone and asked about the Gawker item.

When asked again if the paper's closure is imminent he said, "No comment."

The Sun's spokesman, Michael Moi, said that there is no staff meeting scheduled today to discuss the paper's future.

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."

Here’s a flier for the upcoming New York's Funniest Reporter show.

The money raised by the event goes to charity, while the glamour of being named funniest reporter goes directly to the winner's head. Last year, the competition was won by Mandy Stadtmiller of the New York Post, with her colleague Robert George coming in third.

This year's contestants are:

Mandy Stadtmiller - New York Post
Julia Allison - Star Magazine
Robert George - New York Post
Nikki Egan - MSNBC
Sean McCarthy - Daily News
Tasha Harris - Stagetime Magazine

Brave.  read more »

Earlier this month, both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal raised their cover prices up from a buck—to $1.25 and $1.50, respectively. Now, The New York Sun is getting in on the action. On Aug. 6—the same day the Times gets 1.5 inches narrower—the Sun will double their newsstand price to $1 an issue, according to an internal memo.
 read more »

Rudy Giuliani has hired Daniel Freedman, a conservative editorial writer from The New York Sun.

Here's a note from the paper's editor.

From: Seth Lipsky

Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:05:23 AM

To: ~Business Staff; ~Editorial Staff; ~NY Sun Office Staff

Subject: welcome back to ryan sager

I'm delighted to report that Ryan Sager has returned to the Sun as editor of the online edition. He had been with the Sun as an editorial writer in the startup period and then went to the New York Post and wrote a book about politics, "The Elephant in the Room." In his new job, he will edit the online edition, edit and help write a blog on politics, and write editorials. He's a brilliant journalist and we're all happy to have him back. He replaces Dan Freedman, who is joining the Giuliani campaign. Dan did a terrific job here. I'm sorry to see him go. I do note that Giuliani's rise in the polls began about the time word spread that Freedman was signing on. Good luck to all of them.

This isn't the first acquisition Giuliani has made from the Sun. Earlier, he hired John Avlon, who was a columnist and deputy editor at the paper.

-- Azi Paybarah

Rupert Murdoch, beware: Sir Harold Evans, forced out by Murdoch as editor of the Times of London 23 years ago, is back in the daily newspapering game--sitting in this week to edit The New York Sun.

Evans signed on as a consulting editor Dec. 5 to lend his editorial acumen while Sun editor-in-chief Seth Lipsky is away on vacation.

"Seth's an old friend of mine," Evans said by phone. "He thought a fresh eye might see things around here."

As of this evening, Evans was still adjusting to his new assignment. "I've not even found the way to the men's room," he said.

In his two days at the three-year-old daily, Evans has been reading copy and making front-page recommendations. He suggested a story on rent-controlled tenants buying second homes in Florida for Monday's front page, and a story on fake IDs for Tuesday's.

Evans said he's a loyal Sun customer. "I read it every day," he said. "The thing is, some people find the Sun's opinions strong... My attitude is that a newspaper shouldn't have opinions I would write myself. I want to read about different ideas."

Lipsky was proud of his latest hire. "If he were a violinist, we'd talk about him [in] the hushed tones with which other violinists speak of Zino Francescotti," he wrote in an e-mail.

But Evans played down his editing duties, and said he won't be staying on at the Sun once the consultancy is up on Friday.

"It's only a week. It won't make any noticeable impact," he said.

Soon, though Evans rang off.  read more »

"I gotta go. I have to go read copy."

--Gabriel Sherman

Mike also stopped over at the Hyatt to speak at the Metropolitan College of New York's 41st Anniversary Gala, where he had some kind words for the evening's honoree, New York Sun editor Seth Lipsky.

"Seth and I don't always agree on everything," said the Mayor about Mr. Lipsky, who was beaming in his black bowtie. "He's a really smart guy and he knows a lot about this city. You picked wisely to have him as an honoree."  read more »

No doubt Mike thought Lipsky had picked wisely by awarding the mayor his paper's endorsement.

For much of the summer, Freddy's relative absence from the trail was said to indicate that he had retreated into a "rose-garden strategy."

Not so! We learn from today's New York Sun endorsement (of Mike) that Ferrer was spending the time breaking bread with my old boss, Sun editor Seth Lipsky.

"We have no personal quarrel with Mr. Ferrer, with whom we've had several meals in the past year or so," the Sun writes. "He's a wonderful person, smart and earnest. But we differ with Mr. Ferrer on the issues...."  read more »

Well, they're almost here. On Tuesday Jan.  read more »

Conrad Black, the owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post , finally has at least a pie  read more »

In 1984, Marshall Cogan agreed to purchase Art & Auction magazine for approximately $700,000 from Da  read more »