Newsweek is ceasing print editions and going totally digital at the end of the year. The 80-year-old publication announced the change to a digital format as a sign of the rapid shift to online readership via tablets, smart phones and desktops. There will be staff cuts, it was reported.
Read more at NBC News: Newsweek Goes All Digital
In other media news, Florida’s Tampa Tribune was recently sold to a private equity investment group for $9.5 million. The company that owned the Tribune for 46 years, Media General, announced it is transferring ownership of the Tribune, along with its affiliated newspapers and TBO.com, to Los Angeles-based Revolution Capitol Group. The investment group has formed a locally owned company, the Tampa Media Group to run the paper and its staff of 618 employees.
Read more at Tampa Bay Times: Tribune Sold to Revolution Capital Group
Collier Citizen columnist Kevin Heald has fun with his October 12th column comparing a recent edition of NDN with the homepage of AOL. He observes that the contents are very dissimilar: one pretty newsy and the other very movie star/rock star/Lady Gaga-oriented. His conclusion: “If this is why newspapers are dying, I say keep them on life support as long as possible.” He can be reached at LIFEisHEALD@yahoo.com.
Big Box retailers are advocating more and more social-media-savvy thinking and less and less print advertising. Walmart’s senior vice president, Tony Rogers, was in Naples recently speaking at a three-day industry summit of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. The summit focused on growing newspapers in the digital age; Rogers discussed the transformation of retail marketing and how Walmart is looking to grow its business in this climate.
Read more at Naples Daily News: Walmart exec talks about marketing in the digital age