So Long, Newsweek...

News broke today that after 80 years in print, Newsweek will be moving to an all digital format in early 2013. This seemed to be the inevitable denouement of what once was an excellent news magazine whose decline into irrelevancy only seemed to accelerate when it was acquired by The Daily Beast a couple of years ago. I can't say I'm surprised by this, though it is a little sad.

Newsweek was the news magazine of choice of Father Cigar when I was growing up. I would irritate him greatly by stealing new issues before he had a chance to read them and always looked forward to their year end double issue that contained the greatest political cartoons of the past year. Their 'Conventional Wisdom' section at the front of every issue was a particular favorite of mine and over the years, watching the magazine get thinner and thinner and more and more irrelevant was sad to watch. Father Cigar eventually switched to US News and World Report which I considered to be a sad, pale, version of Newsweek (and probably a touch more Conservative to boot, which suited Father Cigar's changing politics) and until I fell in love with The Economist as an undergraduate, Newsweek was my go-to magazine.

Sic transit gloria mundi. I expect Time magazine will probably follow suit in the next couple of years and news also came today that the Guardian was considering ending its print edition which might lead to much rending of garments and wringing of hands on Fleet Street. (The British Press is much more fun than it's American counterpart and, refreshingly, nobody tries to pretend like they're fair and balanced. If you're a lefty the Guardian is your paper of choice. Righties tend to like The Telegraph and my personal favorite, The Independent seems to meander in between sometimes (though staying fairly left of center.) This also sums up the British Press quite nicely- and humorously as well.)

We seem to living in a rapidly decaying age of print- no doubt this trend will continue though I think The Economist proves that it's possible to have a robust digital and print presence packed to the gills with information.