Tina Brown, the editor-in-chief of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, said the company could no longer afford to publish a print version of Newsweek with the evolution of digital media.
Brown announced earlier this week that Newsweek would cease print publication in 2013, a move will come with staff reductions. On Sunday, Brown tried touted the increase in the magazine’s digital presence and online readership, but said the changing market was too much for the already struggling publication.
“Truly if Newsweek had been in a stronger position, we would have been able to have some years to reverse the decline,” she said on CNN’s Reliable Sources. "It might have been a different outcome, but it really has always been for the last year a question of when, not if.”
Newsweek, owned by The Washington Post Company from 1961 until 2010, has been a leader in covering many major Washington news stories, including President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Like her readers, Brown said she’s adjusted to rely more on digital versions of magazines and books. Newsweek, she explained, had to keep up with this trend.
“In the last 12 months, I'd had to adjust in myself,” she continued. “I've always been a great print junky. …But my own habits have changed so dramatically.”
The company, she said, have to make key decisions in the coming months over the future of the magazine and staff. “Obviously I love the people that I work with here, and they are talented, they're gifted, and they work so hard,” Brown said. “It's been a tough two years in this company.”
For those who worry about losing the provocative cover images at Newsweek, Brown said the magazine would be produce covers for the tablets.
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