the new york observer, the salmon-colored society paper owned by president-elect donald trump <u+2019>s son-in-law, jared kushner, is closing its weekly print edition and will go online only, the company has announced. in a memo to readers on friday, joseph meyer, the chairman and chief executive of observer media, the publication<u+2019>s parent company, said that the move was driven by market realities as readers migrate online and away from the printed edition. <u+201c>we reach more people in an hour online than we reach in a week through print, and will continue to focus on bringing our content to readers wherever they are, via new digital, social, and mobile platforms,<u+201d> wrote mr. meyer, who is mr. kushner<u+2019>s brother-in-law . mr. meyer said the nov. 9 issue was the observer<u+2019>s last. in shifting its content entirely online, <u+201c>new york<u+201d> will be dropped from the title to reflect the broader national focus of the publication since it rebranded its website as simply observer.com in 2015. mr. kushner, the heir to a real-estate empire founded by his father and a close adviser to mr. trump, acquired the paper in 2006. in the months leading up to the election, mr. kushner had reached out to media executives about launching a television venture built around mr. trump<u+2019>s appeal, people familiar with the matter had said. the weekly paper dates to 1987 when it was founded by former investment banker arthur carter to chronicle city culture, media, politics and real estate for a well-heeled audience residing mostly on manhattan<u+2019>s upper east side. the paper became a proving ground for many young writers, and in the mid-1990s featured candace bushnell <u+2019>s column on which the hbo series <u+2018>sex and the city<u+201d> was based. the end of the observer<u+2019>s print edition comes at a rocky time for the newspaper industry. print advertising sales are plunging even faster this year, leading many publishers to cut jobs, trim print editions and broadly rethink their business models. a spokesman for the observer said the closure of the print edition resulted in some staff members being let go but that more people would ultimately be hired as the publication seeks to expand the areas it covers. write to lukas i. alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com
new york observer shutters weekly print edition - wsj
lukas i. alpert