Newsweek magazine to end print edition, going digital instead

18 Oct 2012

US news magazine Newsweek will end its print edition at the end of the year for an online-only format beginning in early 2013.

The 79-year-old magazine’s final print issue in the US will be dated 31 December.  

Editor-in-chief Tina Brown and Baba Shetty, Newsweek Daily Beast Co’s chief executive, explained the switch to a digital edition in a statement on the Daily Beast website.

“This decision is not about the quality of the brand or the journalism – that is as powerful as ever,” they wrote. “It is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution.”

Brown and Shetty also mentioned the digital publication will be named Newsweek Global.

“Newsweek Global … 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,” Brown and Shetty wrote.

“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.”

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com