Christian Science Monitor Launches WWW Edition

Site Features Live Audio, Deep Archive, Interactive Crossword

CompuServe Partnership Announced

The Monitor also announced an agreement in principle for a significant new co- promotion partnership with CompuServe. Future plans include a content sharing relationship as well. "We're excited about this because readers worldwide will be able to enjoy all of the Monitor via CompuServe as well as directly on the Web," said Dave Creagh, the Monitor's electronic publishing manager.

"The site has been in development for more than a year," said Monitor editor David Cook. "It’s a natural extension of the Monitor's reach, and an inexpensive way for us to make the Monitor available to readers worldwide, especially where print delivery has been a problem."

The site includes an archive of Monitor stories dating back to January, 1980, searchable by keyword. Several interactive forums allow users to post comments on politics, cyberspace, books, mixed media, and a discussion about the site itself.

The site was developed by Monitor editorial and publishing staff in collaboration with Free Range Media, in Seattle, WA. The Monitor is not currently charging any user fees. "Down the road we know we will need to charge users for access to some areas of the site", Creagh said. "We are exploring a low monthly subscription fee, and also pricing certain pages 'by the page.' In coming weeks we will install the Clickshare service for registration and user tracking, which will also allow for future micro-transaction payments if we choose that revenue option."

The Christian Science Monitor, an international daily newspaper published by The Christian Science Publishing Society, has won six Pulitzer prizes since its founding in 1908, most recently a 1996 Pulitzer for David Rohde’s reporting on suspected mass graves near Srebrenica in the former Yugoslavia.

Contact: Dave Creagh, Electronic Publishing Manager
617.450.2865 or < dave@csmonitor.com>