After 79 years in print, Newsweek goes digital only

REUTERS: Newsweek, one of the most internationally recognized magazine brands in the world, will cease publishing a print edition after nearly 80 years.

The decision to go all-digital underscores the problems faced by newsweeklies, as more consumers favor tablets and mobile devices over print in an increasingly commoditized, 24-hour news cycle.

The final print edition of the weekly current affairs magazine will hit newsstands on December 31.

The move was not unexpected given both the macro changes affecting the magazine industry and, more specifically, the comments made in July by Newsweek’s owner Barry Diller, head of IAC/Interactive Corp, about the expense of producing a print magazine.

Immediately after Diller’s comments, Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of Newsweek and The Daily Beast, wrote a post on the magazine’s Tumblr page titled, “Scaremongering,” that sought to downplay speculation that it would go all-digital.

But in an interview with Reuters, Brown said of the decision to shelve print, “We started discussing it very fiercely and intensely in June. It’s been in the works a long time, in a sense. And today, we felt ready and absolutely committed to going the course we charted.

“When I returned to print with Newsweek, it did very quickly begin to feel to me (like) an outmoded medium,” Brown continued. “While I still had a great romance for it, nonetheless I feel this is not the right medium anymore to produce journalism.”

Brown held a town hall-style meeting on Thursday at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) to break the news to the company’s business and editorial staff, according to sources. These sources said she treated the staff to breakfast, lunch, and dessert.

Plans calls for the magazine to become a subscription-based digital publication rebranded as Newsweek Global. Its current 1.5 million subscriber base - a decrease of 50 percent from its one-time peak of 3 million - will be given access to the digital edition.

A representative for the company said the cost of the digital-only Newsweek would be on par with current print price. According to the company’s website, Newsweek’s iPad edition costs $24.99 annually and a combined print-iPad yearly subscription costs $39.99.

Select Newsweek content will be available for free on the Daily Beast, which itself is entirely free and advertising-supported.

The transition to digital will result in job cuts, though Brown and Chief Executive Baba Shetty declined to specify how many.

Known as an editor who breathed life into many magazines including Great Britain’s Tatler, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, Brown was unable to revive Newsweek - a title that has been challenged over the past several years.

Under her tenure, the magazine has gained more recognition for its covers than its content. It recently published a widely panned cover on the Muslim uprising in the Middle East, for instance. Other, negative attention-grabbing covers featured a photo-shopped picture of the late Princess Diana and President Obama under a halo with the tagline “The First Gay President.”

Brown brushed off the criticism, however, saying that, “The Newsweek cover has become a game - people discuss it, share it, tweet it, it drives them to the content.”

Ultimately, the buzz the covers created failed to outweigh the $40 million that Shetty said it cost to print and distribute Newsweek annually. The figure does not include the cost of staff, offices and other expenses.

Neither Brown nor Shetty would reveal how much money the magazine is losing, but reports put the figure at $40 million.