Too Much Competition, Not Enough Money and a Lack of Hubris Force The New York Sun To Set

Even if you found the neo-con editorial pages of The New York Sun to be off the grid, if not just plain goofy, you can't take pleasure in the fact that the broadsheet published its last edition today.
At the very least, the Sun showed what a scrappy underdog paper can do to keep the bigger dailies on its toes, with dogged coverage of Manhattan and local politics. It aggressively covered all things Israel, and was a big thorn in the side at the United Nations.
The Sun also distinguished itself with thorough coverage of the arts world, and spent what meager resources it had for sports by employing extremely able columnists like Tim Marchman and John Hollinger.
Even if the Sun's circulation was tiny relative to the Times and the tabloids, the big boys definitely took notice. That's why they, along with The Wall Street Journal and New York magazine, among others, eagerly hired away Sun staffers.
True, the Sun was far from perfect, as I pointed out back in March. At times, the wall between news and op-ed would come crashing down, as it often did with Jacob Gershman's coverage of Albany.
Managing editor Ira Stoll, also one of the paper's owners, not only condoned such a stance, but seemed to encourage it.
Too bad, as it turned out, as the paper needed as much credibility in its fight to stay alive. All for naught, as it turned out, but still too bad.
As Mayor Mike Bloomberg noted: "The Sun shone brightly, but too briefly."
Indeed.