Keeping abreast of the times

One major question we’ve been hearing from readers is, what is the relationship between the Weekly and the Daily?

With so much happening at the Monitor, we thought it would make sense to pause from the regular Upfront column for a few weeks to explain some of our changes in more detail.

From past columns, you’ve heard about the launch of the new digital Christian Science Monitor Daily and our efforts over the next few weeks to redesign the website based on feedback from you, our readers. But one major question we’ve been hearing: What is the relationship between the Weekly and the Daily?

We created the Daily because of a mounting feeling that the website was not sufficiently fulfilling our founding mission to be a daily source of news. Many news consumers today don’t bookmark home pages. They want their news “pushed” to them by Twitter or Facebook or through email newsletters. The new Daily keeps the Monitor up to date with these trends while offering a concise read and transparency about our news choices. 

With the Daily published every weekday, we’re increasingly thinking about the Weekly as our weekend edition – giving you a sit-down, in-your-hands experience with more feature stories, such as movie reviews, book reviews, and the crossword. This evolution is just beginning and we’ll keep you updated as our thinking develops. 

So should you subscribe to both? And if that’s not an option, which should you subscribe to? In many ways that comes down to your needs: What helps you embrace the world and stay current? A weekly read in print or a daily engagement on your smartphone or computer?

Is the content in the Daily and Weekly the same? The Monitor’s journalism will be shared across the Daily and the Weekly. Cover stories will generally appear first in the Weekly, while most One Week stories and editorials will appear first in the Daily. 

But there are unique elements to each. Many stories in the Daily will not appear in the Weekly. The Daily also adds videos, graphics, and editor commentary on the news and the option to listen to our audio news feature. 

Meanwhile, features such as The Home Forum, Points of Progress, photo spreads, People Making a Difference, editorial cartoons, and more will appear almost exclusively in the Weekly.

Do Weekly subscribers get a discount for the Daily? We are working on a pricing bundle for those who want to subscribe to both. We hope to roll that out by the end of the year. For now, Weekly subscribers can get the Daily at a reduced rate of $9 a month or $90 a year.

Amid all these changes, CSMonitor.com will be improved to make it a more navigable home for all we do. It’s primarily for subscribers who want to consume the breadth of Monitor journalism on a desktop computer at their leisure. 

And our commitment to improving the Weekly remains. 

To that end, we will be removing four ad pages, starting with the June 12 issue. While the Weekly will still feature some advertisements, they will now take up less than 10 percent of any issue. The change reduces our mailing rates, so it pays for itself. We’re also working on some new features for the Weekly. So stay tuned and let us know how we can make the Weekly even better.