Newsweek to stop print edition and go all digital from 31 Dec

Is this the beginning of the future of print?

Iconic news magazine Newsweek, which also owns the Daily Beast website, has announced that it will completely cease to publish print editions and move to an all digital format from the end of this year.

A statement by Editor-in-chief Newsweek and Daily Beast Tina Brown and CEO of The Newsweek Daily Beast Co., Baba Shetty is CEO, said that the magazine would become a single worldwide edition that would be available online, as well as on mobile phones and tablets.

Portions of the statement are pasted below. You can read the whole statement here :

We are announcing this morning an important development at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013. As part of this transition, the last print edition in the United States will be our Dec. 31 issue.

Meanwhile, Newsweek will expand its rapidly growing tablet and online presence, as well as its successful global partnerships and events business.

Newsweek Global, as the all-digital publication will be named, 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. 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.

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It is important that we underscore what this digital transition means and, as importantly, what it does not. 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.

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