Christian Science Monitor May Cut Size, Staff to Reduce Deficit

BOSTON — The Christian Science Monitor may have to trim its size and staff in order to reduce a $20-million annual deficit, a report said today.

The international daily newspaper also is considering hiking its subscription prices from $144 to $200 or more a year and eliminating its unprofitable advertising columns, The Boston Globe reported.

The Monitor is published by the Church of Christ, Scientist, which earlier this year began a magazine and a television show, both called the World Monitor.

But the Globe said start-up costs for the two new ventures, as well as last year’s collapse of the stock market, have caused a sharp decline in the net worth of the Christian Science church.

During the last fiscal year, the market value of the church’s endowment declined from $283 million to $221 million, while the church’s total expenses of $120 million exceeded its income by $23 million, the Globe said.

Former Monitor Managing Editor Richard Nenneman, who is working with a management consultant team trying to develop a recovery plan for the Monitor, has proposed dropping the paper’s advertising columns and publishing a 16-page, stripped-down version of the paper.

The Nenneman plan, presented Wednesday to the church’s board of directors, is strongly opposed by the newspaper’s staff, the Globe said. Some reporters believe Monitor Editor Katherine Fanning will resign rather than accept an advertising-free newspaper, the Globe said.