Newsweek To Stop Printing Magazines

When you go to your doctor or dentist's office in January, there won't be a copy of the latest Newsweek waiting for you in the reception area.

On Thursday, the long-embattled periodical announced that its December 31 edition will be the last it prints:

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. [...]

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.

All together now: aaaaawwwww!

What's also fascinating about this announcement is that it goes completely counter to what editor Tina Brown said in July.

Responding to NewsBusters and Politico pieces claiming Newsweek was going to stop printing magazines and go completely online, Brown sent the following letter to her staff on July 27 claiming, "Barry Diller would like to make it clear that he did not say on the earnings call as reported that Newsweek is going digital in September. He made the uncontroversial, industry-wide observation that print is moving in the direction of digital."

You were saying, Tina?