Newsweek Magazine is dead. At least as far as the print version goes. Starting at the beginning on next year, Newsweek is going all digital, putting an end to a historic 80 years as a print publication.
The once-popular news magazine lost its battle to the intenet. Newsweek will release its last print edition on Dec.31., Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company said. The print magazine would have turned 80 in 2013, as it started being published in 1933.
The digital version of the magazine will be called Newsweek Global. It will operate on a paid subscription and subscribers will be able to read it on the internet and on tablets. Some of the content will be available on The Daily Beast.
The Daily Beast launched four years ago. In 2010, The Washington Post Company, which originally owned Newsweek, sold it to Dr. Sidney Harman. The Daily Beast and Newsweek then merged.
This transition to print is part of an ongoing issue for journalism as they internet takes over and print publications become less read. Citing a Pew Research Center study, 39 percent of Americans say they get their news from an online source, according to Brown. Print publications are not able to compete with the news that is published and accessed instantly on the internet.
"Our business has been increasingly affected by the challenging print advertising environment, while Newsweek's online and e-reader content has built a rapidly growing audience through the Apple, Kindle, Zinio and Nook stores as well as on The Daily Beast," Brown said in a statement.
The Daily Beast believes that Newsweek will be able to survive through the digital world as tablet use increases.
"By year's end, tablet users in the United States alone are expected to exceed 70 million, up from 13 million just two years ago," Brown said.
Although some may believe this is the end of Newsweek altogether, Brown wanted to clarify that this transition doesn't mean goodbye.
"We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it. We remain committed to Newsweek and to the journalism that it represents. 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," she said.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
