By Alexander C. Kaufman
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Newsweek's final print magazine
hit newsstands Monday morning, bidding adieu to the magazine's
80 year run with #LastPrintIssue hashtag emblazoned on its
cover.
The headline - a nod to the digital age that has made
survival harder for print - is splashed atop a black-and-white
image of Newsweek's iconic former offices in New York City.
"At its best, Newsweek has always been about 'the team
game': a bygone form of group journalism that's less concerned
with big-name bylines than with big, cooperative storytelling; a
collective endeavor that aspires to serve the readers, not the
egos of the journalists they're paying to read," Newsweek writer
Andrew Romano wrote in a lengthy, 9-page eulogy, collecting
memories a slew of former staffers throughout the years.
Newsweek announced in October that it planned to shutter its
print publication, merging the magazine with editor Tina Brown's
online network, the Daily Beast.
In 2013, Newsweek Global will now become a separate
online-only venture, a "single, worldwide edition targeted for a
highly mobile, opinion-leading audience who want to learn about
world events in a sophisticated context," according to a
post published months ago.
The magazine's last year in print was marked by provocative
covers - starting in August 2011 with an unkind snapshot of
then-Republican presidential contender Rep. Michelle Bachmann to
a photoshopped image of Princess Diana, altered to look as old
as she would be now.
In May, Newsweek crowned President Obama "the first gay
president," depicting him with a rainbow-striped halo. A few
months later, amid a spate of violent protests in the across the
Arab world, it printed a photo of raging protesters with the
headline "#MuslimRage."
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