Newsweek print edition coming to an end after 80 years

Editor-in-chief Tina Brown announced this morning that Newsweek, a fixture on magazine racks across the nation for eight decades, is ending its print edition and going all-digital. Brown said the last print edition will be published on Dec. 31 and the new online product will be called Newsweek Global, a single worldwide edition. Apparently some of the content will be hidden behind a paywall and will require a subscription.

In her memo to the staff, Brown said:

“… 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 on The Daily Beast. Tablet-use has grown rapidly among our readers and with it the opportunity to sustain editorial excellence through swift, easy digital distribution -- a superb global platform for our award-winning journalism.  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.

“Currently, 39 percent of Americans say they get their news from an online source, according to a Pew Research Center study released last month. In our judgment, we have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach our readers in all-digital format. This was not the case just two years ago. It will increasingly be the case in the years ahead.”

As someone who loves print, this is a sad story. And I’m afraid it might open the floodgates.

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Meanwhile, The Telegraph in London is reporting that top management at its competitor, The Guardian, are "seriously discussing" a move to an entirely online operation.

The Telegraph reports that the Guardian’s digital-only U.S. operation before pulling the plug on the print edition, in the hope that it will provide a useful blueprint for the online business in Britain.

Though The Guardian is one of the most prominent newspapers in Europe, it is hurting for cash.

The paper has suffered losses of of  44 million pounds per year. Digital revenues are up but the paper has reportedly been slow to make savings and any money that it has clawed back has been spent on expanding its U.S. and online operations.