Worcester Sun to “Temporarily Cease Publication”

Thursday, February 22, 2018
GoLocalWorcester News Team

The Worcester Sun has announced that it will temporarily cease publication just three years after it launched in 2015. It was founded by former Worcester Telegram execs and was intended to compete directly with the GateHouse newspaper.

The Worcester Sun sent the following message to readers on Wednesday morning. 

"The Worcester Sun will temporarily cease publication.

The decision is a difficult one, but it is necessary despite our increased audience and advertising since we launched our print edition in December.

In addition to the issues we knew we’d face, problems arose that we did not account for. We can overcome these problems but not in a timely, cost-effective manner. As a result, we feel the only prudent thing to do is to use a brief hiatus to address these problems, assimilate the feedback we’ve received from our subscribers and assess our place in the market.

Our goal is the same as the day we launched in August 2015, to create the kind of impact journalism the Worcester community can rally behind and support. We are extremely grateful and thankful for your support. You're the reason we've come as far as we have since 2015. We are hopeful we can soon return to fulfill that promise."  

Here is what GoLocal Worcester wrote in August of 2015 about the launch of the Worcester Sun:

The city’s newest online news media, Worcester Sun, is set to launch on Sunday.

Founded by former Telegram and Gazette Online Director Mark Henderson, and his partner, former Sentinel & Enterprise reporter and editor at MetroWest Daily, Fred Hurlbrink, Jr., the Worcester Sun promises to provide long-form journalism that covers stories about people, places and things that aren’t being covered in Worcester.

Henderson was with the T&G for more than 20 years before leaving in June 2014 following a long list of layoffs after the paper was sold again to Halifax Media.

"If there's a silver lining in all of these cutbacks, it's that there is now a talented, experienced pool of journalists ready to try new things, but which recognizes the need for the kind of journalism that can lead to positive change. This is where the Worcester Sun comes in," said Henderson.

The Sun’s office is located at 20 Franklin Street - across the street from City Hall - in the former T&G building.

"Anyone in the media business in the past ten years, is intimately familiar with cutbacks, buyouts and layoffs. According to one survey, one-third of all newsroom jobs have been eliminated across the country since 2004," said Henderson in a video on his Kickstarter site earlier this year (the campaign has since finished). "When you give people less, the price people pay for local journalism goes up."

Access to the Sun starts at only $2 a week. Additional membership options include four week, three month, six month, and one year ($104.00).