The Sunday Paper, a free newspaper distributed in storefront racks around the Atlanta metropolitan area since 2004, has ceased publishing news.

Sundaypaper.com, the publication's digital component, has been taken down, and no web archives are available.  

The newspaper's founder and publisher, Patrick Best, attempted to compete with Atlanta's Creative Loafing as a more moderate alternative news weekly publication to the notoriously liberal CL. His vision was noble and worthy. But he fell victim to a disastrous economy that has devastated the newspaper publishing industry across the globe.

Best says he intends to keep publishing -- but only as an advertising and coupon oriented shopper, sort of like a higher end version of the "Thrifty Nickle" or "The Penny Saver."

"SundayPaper.com will re-launch. SP will be back on January 7, 2011 as the complete source for coupons, deals, fun and culture in Atlanta," its website now says.

Best is taking a shot to make his publication financially viable without news content. He's gambling that enough consumers looking for deals will peruse his revamped newspaper to justify ad sales.

That strategy -- certainly high risk -- may be the company's last gasp at survival. More than likely, Best needed to eliminate more costs – and had diminishing options at his disposal.

The alternative may have been closing his publication down altogether.

NOT SO HAPPY NEW YEAR

According to reports, Sunday Paper Editor in Chief Stephanie Ramage and her entire editorial staff were let go as part of the company's reorganization on Thursday, December 30, 2010.

"Patrick Best, our publisher, informed me that The Sunday Paper will no longer be doing news. Patrick was as nice as he could be; the decision, he explained, was merely the product of today's business environment," Ramage wrote in a public email message sent to readers that was subsequently forwarded to The Beacon. 

Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogged that The Sunday Paper positioned itself as a conservative alternative to Creative Loafing magazine, and couldn't find a niche.  

In its first few years, The Sunday Paper published somewhat provocative cover stories, including "Cynthia McKinney: Friend or Freak?" and "Is Georgia Stupid?"

But it never really figured out what is was -- or what it wanted to be. Now, it suffers the fate of many weekly newspapers across America – the victim of a dying industry in a struggling advertising environment trying to survive in the midst of a failing national economy. 

Creative Loafing has also cut back on its print news coverage to about one story per week, saving staff and paper cost. The company is just now emerging from the bankruptcy courts.