Tina Brown, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast – which owns Newsweek, has announced that December 31 will be the last print edition of Newsweek. Starting in early 2013, it will be called Newsweek Global will only be available via digital devices and the web.
We are announcing this morning an important development at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013. As part of this transition, the last print edition in the United States will be our Dec. 31 issue.
Meanwhile, Newsweek will expand its rapidly growing tablet and online presence, as well as its successful global partnerships and events business.
Newsweek Global, as the all-digital publication will be named, will be a single, worldwide edition targeted for a highly mobile, opinion-leading audience who want to learn about world events in a sophisticated context. Newsweek Global will be supported by paid subscription and will be available through e-readers for both tablet and the Web, with select content available on The Daily Beast.
There will be some layoffs. We’ll have to see if they continue to print editorial cartoons each week. Better yet, commission original editorial cartoons. But I’m not holding my breath on that.
this is sort of stunning news in terms of print media going digital, but I was in my doctor’s office yesterday and did you know that Web MD publishes a print magazine??
maybe this will open up the size the comics are allowed, since space restrictions are not really present on the web.
R.I.P. print Newsweek.
As it is, hardly anyone buys digital publications yet they expect people to buy the digital version of something no one was buying in print to begin with?
Well then they better use the new digital tools to make a new, interactive magazine experience…..instead of just dumping the print version onto a digital platform.
If they don’t use their new digital tools…it won’t be long before the Newsweek name won’t exist anywhere.
I don’t think people weren’t buying Newsweek, just that they weren’t making a profit after printing and distributing it.
Newsweek lost a substantial part of its readership over the last four years as its editorial content took a hard left point-of-view. Circulation numbers fell quickly and never recovered. Under Tina Brown’s direction, the magazine has tilted even further left and advertisers abandoned the product as their contracts were up for renewal. It became a niche publication and too costly to produce weekly in print. Now it will go head-to-head against the Huffington Post and Slate. It will have a tough road ahead of it in a very crowed field.