The remaining reporters and editors at Newsweek and the Daily Beast are preparing the weekly magazine’s final edition, a year-end
double issue scheduled to hit the stands the last week of 2012.
And then it will be over. Newsweek will be no more. The weekly magazine, founded as News Week in 1933, will cease publication.
Tina Brown, founder and editor of the hybrid Newsweek/Daily Beast announced in October that she would quit publishing the print magazine.
On Friday Brown sent out notices and called staffers who would no longer be needed,
as she takes the news operation all digital.
One of her calls went to Robin Givhan, widely considered to be the best fashion critic in the business and the only one
to receive a Pulitzer Prize. Givhan was one of a reported 65 of 270 staffers who were
associated primarily with the print magazine.
The damage at Newsweek will essentially wipe out its storied Washington bureau, which produced some of the
most renowned journalists of our time, including—to name a few— Ben Bradlee, Robert Samuelson, Evan Thomas, David Martin, Gloria Borger, Howard Fineman, Michael Isikoff, and Tom DeFrank.
And Eleanor Clift, perhaps the last of the vaunted reporting crew still at her post.
“My status is unchanged,” Clift wrote to The Washingtonian. “I remain a contributor to Newsweek/Daily Beast.”
Newsweek’s descent to oblivion was foretold when Post Company chairman Donald Graham sold it in 2010. Graham’s father, Phil, bought it in 1961 and grew it into a powerful,
weekly dose of news and commentary that often defined the American and global zeitgeist.
Graham dumped Newsweek because he couldn’t figure out how to stem mounting losses.
Eleanor Clift’s relationship to Newsweek describes the new normal at many news organizations. She will add TV gigs on the
McLaughlin Group and MSNBC to her contributor status at Newsweek. Salaried staff jobs are more rare. Contributors, often paid on contract or by the
piece, are more and more common.
If that’s the case at Newsweek/Daily Beast once it goes all digital in 2013, we are likely to continue seeing the
bylines of James Warren, Peter Beinart, and Michael Tomasky as contributors.
Howie Kurtz, the perennially prolific “bureau chief,” will lead the page as a well-paid staffer.
Andrew Sullivan, who writes and runs the Dish, is most likely in the same boat.
As for the last double issue, expect a reprise and a final victory lap through Newsweek’s best issues. Editors asked Isikoff, who broke the news about Bill Clinton’s liaison
with Monica Lewinsky for Newsweek, to write an essay for the final issue. Isikoff is now the investigative reporter
for NBC. Clift is writing a piece on Newsweek’s coverage of the women’s movement.
“There will be retrospective pieces on Newsweek’s pioneering coverage of civil rights and gay rights,” Clift says, “and a look back
at some of the most memorable covers, like Magic Johnson announcing he had AIDS, with
the cover line: “Even Me.”
“Newsweek” Prepares for Its Final Issue
The venerable weekly reportedly cut 65 staffers in its move to an all-digital format in 2013.
The remaining reporters and editors at
Newsweek and the Daily Beast are preparing the weekly magazine’s final edition, a year-end
double issue scheduled to hit the stands the last week of 2012.
And then it will be over.
Newsweek will be no more. The weekly magazine, founded as
News Week in 1933, will cease publication.
Tina Brown, founder and editor of the hybrid
Newsweek/Daily Beast announced in October that she would quit publishing the print magazine.
On Friday Brown sent out notices and called staffers who would no longer be needed,
as she takes the news operation all digital.
One of her calls went to
Robin Givhan, widely considered to be the best fashion critic in the business and the only one
to receive a Pulitzer Prize. Givhan was one of a reported 65 of 270 staffers who were
associated primarily with the print magazine.
The damage at
Newsweek will essentially wipe out its storied Washington bureau, which produced some of the
most renowned journalists of our time, including—to name a few—
Ben Bradlee,
Robert
Samuelson,
Evan Thomas,
David Martin,
Gloria Borger,
Howard Fineman,
Michael Isikoff, and
Tom DeFrank.
And
Eleanor Clift, perhaps the last of the vaunted reporting crew still at her post.
“My status is unchanged,” Clift wrote to
The Washingtonian. “I remain a contributor to
Newsweek/Daily Beast.”
Newsweek’s descent to oblivion was foretold when Post Company chairman
Donald Graham sold it in 2010. Graham’s father, Phil, bought it in 1961 and grew it into a powerful,
weekly dose of news and commentary that often defined the American and global zeitgeist.
Graham dumped
Newsweek because he couldn’t figure out how to stem mounting losses.
Eleanor Clift’s relationship to
Newsweek describes the new normal at many news organizations. She will add TV gigs on the
McLaughlin Group and MSNBC to her contributor status at
Newsweek. Salaried staff jobs are more rare. Contributors, often paid on contract or by the
piece, are more and more common.
If that’s the case at
Newsweek/Daily Beast once it goes all digital in 2013, we are likely to continue seeing the
bylines of
James Warren,
Peter Beinart, and
Michael Tomasky as contributors.
Howie Kurtz, the perennially prolific “bureau chief,” will lead the page as a well-paid staffer.
Andrew Sullivan, who writes and runs the Dish, is most likely in the same boat.
As for the last double issue, expect a reprise and a final victory lap through
Newsweek’s best issues. Editors asked Isikoff, who broke the news about Bill Clinton’s liaison
with Monica Lewinsky for
Newsweek, to write an essay for the final issue. Isikoff is now the investigative reporter
for NBC. Clift is writing a piece on
Newsweek’s coverage of the women’s movement.
“There will be retrospective pieces on
Newsweek’s pioneering coverage of civil rights and gay rights,” Clift says, “and a look back
at some of the most memorable covers, like Magic Johnson announcing he had AIDS, with
the cover line: “Even Me.”
And then even
Newsweek will cease to be.
Most Popular in News & Politics
Meet DC’s 2025 Tech Titans
The “MAGA Former Dancer” Named to a Top Job at the Kennedy Center Inherits a Troubled Program
White House Seriously Asks People to Believe Trump’s Letter to Epstein Is Fake, Oliver North and Fawn Hall Got Married, and It’s Time to Plan Your Apple-Picking Excursion
Scott Bessent Got in Another Argument With a Coworker; Trump Threatens Chicago, Gets Booed in New York; and Our Critic Has an Early Report From Kayu
Trump Travels One Block From White House, Declares DC Crime-Free; Barron Trump Moves to Town; and GOP Begins Siege of Home Rule
Washingtonian Magazine
September Issue: Style Setters
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
These Confusing Bands Aren’t Actually From DC
Fiona Apple Wrote a Song About This Maryland Court-Watching Effort
The Confusing Dispute Over the Future of the Anacostia Playhouse
Protecting Our Drinking Water Keeps Him Up at Night
More from News & Politics
5 Things to Know About “Severance” Star Tramell Tillman
See a Spotted Lanternfly? Here’s What to Do.
Patel Dined at Rao’s After Kirk Shooting, Nonviolent Offenses Led to Most Arrests During Trump’s DC Crackdown, and You Should Try These Gougères
How a DC Area Wetlands Restoration Project Could Help Clean Up the Anacostia River
Pressure Grows on FBI Leadership as Search for Kirk’s Killer Continues, Kennedy Center Fires More Staffers, and Spotted Lanternflies Are Everywhere
What Is Free DC?
Manhunt for Charlie Kirk Shooter Continues, Britain Fires US Ambassador Over Epstein Connections, and Sandwich Guy Will Get a Jury Trial
Can Two Guys Ride a Rickshaw over the Himalayas? It Turns Out They Can.