NEW YORK -- The New York City Tribune, a daily newspaper owned by News World Communications Inc., suspended publication Thursday, saying the city 'is obviously not supporting even the existing large papers.'
However, the paper's parent company, which also owns the Washington Times and the Spanish-language Noticias Del Mundo, held out the possibility that the paper would resume publication at a later date. In a statement, News World Communications noted the Tribune had suspended publication for four months in 1985.
The decision to suspend publication with Friday's issue was another sign of the deepening economic woes in the city's publishing industry, which has seen a number of magazines fold as advertising fell with the deteriorating local economy.
News World's president, Bo Hai Pak, said the suspension was a 'strategic decision' and said the Tribune would be coming back 'bigger and fully supported.'
The paper began publishing as The News World on Dec. 31, 1976, and its circulation peaked at 400,000 during the newspaper strike of 1978, when some of the city's top daily journalists temporarily worked at the paper.
The paper's most recent circulation was 12,000, company officials said. The city currently has four daily newspapers whose circulations each exceed 500,000, including the strikebound Daily News.
The paper's publisher, Phillip Sanchez, said that 'while it is unfortunate that this had to take place at this time, I have always seen the New York City Tribune as a front-line trooper in the constant battle to provide better fare for New York readers.'
'Yet New York is obviously not supporting even the existing large papers, and any contribution from the New York City Tribune might be better placed at a later date.'
A spokesman for the paper, Tom Zumbo, said the Tribune suspended publication because 'the economy's bad, the recession's bad.'
'It's suspending publication until the economy gets better,' he said. 'If the economy gets better in three months it will be back.'
