Newsweek Mag. To Stop Print-Edition Dec. 2012

[JamesG]

Newsweek Ending Print Edition, Going All-Digital In 2013; Job Cuts Expected
The Huffington Post | by Jack Mirkinson
10/18/12


Newsweek is ending its print edition and transitioning to an all-digital format by the end of 2012, editor Tina Brown announced on Thursday.

The magazine has been in print since 1933. That will end after its Dec. 31 issue. The shuttering of the print edition will inevitably seen as a harbinger of things to come for the wider industry.

The all-digital tablet edition will be called Newsweek Global. it will launch in early 2013 and require a paid subscription.







In a note, Brown wrote that the economics of print had ceased to make sense for the magazine, which merged with her Daily Beast website in 2010. At the time, she had written that the website would "quicken the pace of a great magazine's revival."

She also warned that there will be layoffs coming:

In our judgment, we have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach our readers in all-digital format. This was not the case just two years ago. It will increasingly be the case in the years ahead.

This decision is not about the quality of the brand or the journalism--that is as powerful as ever. It is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution.

Newsweek is produced by a gifted and tireless team of professionals who have been offering brilliant work consistently throughout a tough period of ownership transition and media disruption. Regrettably we anticipate staff reductions and the streamlining of our editorial and business operations both here in the U.S. and internationally.

Exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the unique weekly camaraderie of those hectic hours before the close on Friday night. But as we head for the 80th anniversary of Newsweek next year we must sustain the journalism that gives the magazine its purpose--and embrace the all-digital future.

We realize news of a big change like this will be unsettling. We wish to reassure you the transition is well planned, extremely mindful of the unavoidable impact on our staff and respectful of our readers, advertisers and business partners.

The announcement comes after Barry Diller, whose company owns Newsweek, hinted in July that there was an all-digital future in the wings.

In June, the family of Sidney Harman -- the late billionaire who bought the magazine for $1, merged it with the Daily Beast and helped bankroll it -- announced that it was withdrawing much of its funding.

The end of the print edition is also the end of Brown's attempt to revitalize the magazine in its original form. Newsweek had seen its profits vanish and its circulation plummet before she took it over. The merger with The Daily Beast did not change that, even as her oft-provocative covers and stories made the magazine a conversation piece in media circles.

Circulation has dropped 51 percent in five years.




Of the three major American newsweeklies -- Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report -- only Time has survived in any recognizable form.

When 2013 hits, it will be the last title standing in print.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1..._1978265.html?

[robyrob]

it reminds me of that episode of the Simpsons where boxing champion Drederick Tatum is complaining about the cost of keeping his pigeons - mainly because he is lining the bottom of their cages with iPads.

[MrCleveland]

80 Years in Print and now...it'll be gone.

Maybe 20/21/2012 WILL be a New Era for many! Like how 1969 was...

[Retro4Life]

Subscribed to Newsweek for many years. Ultimately, I just wasn't reading it much anymore and it wasn't worth the money to me. The magazine had begun to skew 'young and hip' i.e. 'superficial and boring', so I gave it up. Also, I have to say that even as a Democrat I recognized the obvious bias of the political portion of the magazine.

[80sTrivia]

Another casualty of the digital age...

[gilligan fanatic]

I am sure many more magazines will follow, and honestly I don't think it's a bad thing. I just wonder how many years newspapers have left.

[dakert]

Its ironic that I just quit subscribing to Newsweek earlier this year
When my Altoona Mirror newspaper expires in 2013 I will not be renewing!!

[MickeyMac]

Didnt read this magazine, but I find this sad. The lack of print media is a sad thing.

[yankeesrj12]

No surprise. Why bother picking up a magazine when half of the information is already online?

[Coffeecup]

The only thing about magazines not making them paper form, is now you have forced yourself to get on the computer to read. You lose the pick up the magazine feel. It will be, to read anything you will need a computer and a mind to find the item.

[TVFactFan]

I was getting the magazine for free the last 12 months and didn't even have a subscription so I;m not surprised LOL

[Coffeecup]

The price the companies were given me wasn't so expensive. Something like $150. for 3 years. But the magazine just isn't as good as it used to be. Changing times for sure.

[JamesG]