THREE MONTHS ago, Newsweek editor-in-chief Tina Brown described speculation that the current affairs magazine was planning to ditch its print edition as “scaremongering”.
Yesterday, she announced that the loss-making Newsweek would “transition to an all-digital format in early 2013”. She cited “the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution” and later told Bloomberg that the cost of printing was “incredibly archaic”.
The December 31st issue will be the last print edition of Newsweek in the US, bringing to an end its near 80-year presence on physical newsstands. Over the five years to 2011, its circulation has halved to 1.5 million.
“We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it,” wrote Brown and chief executive Baba Shetty in a co-authored post on the website of the Daily Beast, Newsweek’s online little sister.
“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.”
Jobs, as well as romance, will be lost. “Regrettably we anticipate staff reductions and the streamlining of our editorial and business operations both here in the US and internationally,” they wrote.
The magazine’s decision to “embrace the all-digital future” follows a series of similar moves by US newspapers, led by the Christian Science Monitor in 2009.
The all-digital worldwide publication will be called Newsweek Global. Aimed at “a highly mobile, opinion-leading audience who want to learn about world events in a sophisticated context”, it will court paid subscribers, with “select content” placed on the Daily Beast.
Newsweek is already available to buy via newsagent app Newsstand for €2.39 per issue or an annual subscription of €19.99.
Brown has been dubbed a doyenne of the magazine world, having served as editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She joined up with billionaire Barry Diller to launch the Daily Beast in 2008. It attracts more than 15 million unique monthly visitors, up 70 per cent over the past year.
When The Washington Post Company sold Newsweek to Sidney Harman for $1 in 2010, it was merged with the Daily Beast under a company controlled by Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp.
However, Brown’s tenure at Newsweek has been criticised by those who believe the magazine no longer provides a “sophisticated context” for learning about world events, but has instead adopted a policy of editorial trolling – the act of deliberately provoking an angry reaction from audiences.
A recent controversy that fit into this category was a May cover image of Barack Obama above the line “the first gay President?”.
