Arts & Culture

Merry Christmas and a few thoughts on Newsweek’s final print cover, first published on Twitter

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I can’t imagine too many of you will be checking in here today.

But Merry Christmas to those who do.

I know it’s not the end of the year, but today feels pretty nostalgic anyway.

In my teaching, thinking, and blogging over the past couple of years, I’ve been trying to keep a handle on the evolution of media — on the changing ways that we’re finding and sharing news.

Some of the old models are going to be with us for a long time, I suspect, but the newsmagazine might be gone pretty soon.

From the BBC’s Newsweek unveils final print edition:

A black and white photo of the publication’s Manhattan headquarters takes pride of place, with the strapline #lastprintissue.

The nod to Twitter is regarded as a backhanded compliment.

The death of the print edition was caused by falling advertising revenues, as audiences moved online.

From the new year, Newsweek will be a digital-only publication. Editor Tina Brown described it as “a new chapter” for the magazine.

In a defiant editor’s letter, she wrote: “This is not a conventional magazine, or a hidebound place.

“It is in that spirit that we’re making our latest, momentous change, embracing a digital medium that all our competitors will one day need to embrace with the same fervor.

“We are ahead of the curve.”

We’ll see how it works out.

Here’s the tweet — embedded — from Sunday’s announcement of the new cover, so you can see it for yourself. I find it a little formulaic, but any choice would draw criticism.