skip to main content

Job cuts expected as Newsweek ends print edition

Newsweek's last print edition to be its December 31 issue
Newsweek's last print edition to be its December 31 issue

The US news magazine Newsweek plans to end its print publication after 80 years and will shift to an all-digital format starting in early 2013.

Job cuts are expected at the company.

Newsweek's last US print edition will be its December 31 issue.

With more and more consumers on the go and using their mobile phones and tablets to receive the news, media organisations have had to increasingly shift more of their emphasis online.

Aside from Newsweek, SmartMoney announced in June that it was closing its print publication in favour of a digital format. Dow Jones & Co, a unit of News Corp, said at the time that 25 positions at SmartMoney would be eliminated.

Newsweek's decision does not come as a complete surprise. Barry Diller, the head of the company that owns Newsweek, announced in July that the publication was examining its future as a weekly print magazine.

Diller said then that the brand was good around the world, but that producing a weekly news magazine in print form was not easy.

The announcement of the change was made by Tina Brown, editor-in-chief and founder of The Newsweek Daily Beast, on The Daily Beast website today. Brown said staff cuts are expected, but did not give a specific figure.

Brown said that the online publication will be called Newsweek Global and will be a single, worldwide edition that requires a paid subscription. It will be available for tablets and online reading, with certain content available on The Daily Beast website.