Newsweek's final print issue ends with a 'hashtag'

The December 31, 2012 Newsweek issue is indeed a collectors issue for it will be the last of the print issue one will hold. Yes, Newsweek print edition closes with this last issue and it will transition to a new online platform called ‘Newsweek Global'. The final issue cover picture released on Twitter shows the ‘hash tag' cover that simple says ‘The Last Print Issue' with the old Newsweek building in New York in the back drop. Newsweek with the last issue completes its 79 years in print. The 'hashtag' cover clearly reflects the sign of times and how print has been cannibalized by the Internet and its various manifestation like social media and media apps delivered straight to the tablet devices and smartphones.

Earlier in October, Newsweek editor Tina Brown, wrote in The Daily Beast ( its sister publication) that Newsweek print edition will be shutting down by end of 2012. She wrote. "Newsweek would cease print publication at the end of the year and move to an all-digital format".

Newsweek originally owned by The Washington Post Co. was sold to audio devices mogul Sydney Harman in 2010. It is said Harman pursued Newsweek as a philanthropic venture taking its losses ( running into millions) and vowed to bring it out of the red. But after Harman's death, his family withdrew its financial commitment last year to Newsweek and thus spiraling to its fall and the impending transition to digital.

The closure of Newsweek's print edition clearly marks the end of an era. Newsweek all these years have been an arch rival to Time Magazine and somewhere down the line lost it out to competition and the new media.