[NewsPoster]

Newsweek, a US magazine that has been running since 1933, will be going digital-only at the start of next year. After running for nearly 80 years, the magazine will print its last paper-based edition on December 31, 2012, and will instead be using apps and a website to pass news and articles to its readers.

The publication will rebranded to Newsweek Global, and will be a single, worldwide edition that is optimized for tablets and paid for by a subscription. The Daily Beast, a companion publication, will continue to host some of Newsweek's content. Despite only being four years old, The Daily Beast pulls in over 15 million unique visitors a month, a 70 percent increase in the last year alone. In a joint post on The Daily Beast, editor-in-chief and founder of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company Tina Brown and CEO Baba Shetty acknowledged the growth of tablets in the US, which is claimed will exceed 70 million by the end of this year. "We have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently reach our readers in all-digital format," wrote Brown and Shetty, noting that a Pew Research study last month suggested 39 percent of Americans get their news from online sources. "This was not the case just two years ago. It will increasingly be the case in the years ahead." The company expects to lose a number of staff in the transition, with both editorial and business operations sections within the US and internationally set to see reductions in employees. Switching to a digital-only existence is a difficult feat to accomplish. News Corporation launched iPad newspaper The Daily but found it difficult to gain enough of a readership to be financially secure. Reports in July suggested that the publication could still be shut down because of ongoing financial losses totaling around $30 million per year.

[The Vicar]

...which will make it even easier to ignore. For which we should be grateful.

[Zanziboy]

Thank goodness they are going out of print!

Since the 1980's, Newsweek has been on a steady decline. The past few years, the magazine has given up on even trying to appear to contain factual information. Most of the information in Newsweek comes from political hacks, who have no real interest in telling the truth!

[Geoduck]

Since the 1980's, {insert name of any US news outlet} has been on a steady decline.The past few years, the {magazine, TV network, newspaper, etc.} has given up on even trying to appear to contain factual information. Most of the information in {insert name of any US news outlet} comes from political hacks, who have no real interest in telling the truth!

[Charles Martin]

Geoduck: LOL

Zanziboy: let me guess, only Faux Noise dares to tell the truth ...

The fact of the matter is that there is only one North American news network that fairly reports on US news and current events, and that's the CBC.

But seriously there's nothing wrong with new channels/publications/etc having a bit of a slant to them, it's called "editorial judgement" and as long as humans are involved in the news process you're going to get that. That's perfectly okay as long as they don't lie or pretend to be "fair and balanced."

Intelligent people have the critical reasoning faculties to read between the lines and to gather their information from multiple DIVERSE sources and discern the truth as it concerns them ...

[pnorman]

What is an "opinion-leading audience"? This phrase is used in Newsweek's press release.

Thanks!

[Tanker10a]

It also means that the Managing Editor among other folks are going to save a whooping $45 Million in Publishing Cost according to an interview on the Friday's CBS Morning News Show...
Imagine all these people that are going for the Unemployment line which the Managing Editor could not comment on how many persons that are about to lose their jobs. That means it's Obama's fault for these jobs loss...I guarantee it given that it's an election season.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by pnorman 

What is an "opinion-leading audience"? This phrase is used in Newsweek's press release.

Thanks!

It means that the folks that people actually listen to all read Newsweek.

And AFAICT, that's true. Newsweek and Time magazine are required reading for anybody who wants to have something to say in politics. Or at least, they used to be.