PC Magazine Will Be Online Only

Just saw this: Ziff Davis’s PC Magazine Will Be Online Only.  Now I know PC Mag is a computer magazine, and I know most people with computers are hooked up to the web, but I think the general trend from print to web is a problem.  It’s affected quite a few publications:

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a small publication that was established in 1945 and won a National Magazine Award last year, recently announced it would go online-only beginning in January. “We’re trying to deal with the cost pressures,” said Jonas Siegel, the Bulletin’s editor, in an interview.

The Christian Science Monitor announced in October that it would cease printing its paper weekday edition and appear online only; also in October, the Hearst Corporation closed CosmoGirl but kept its Web site.

“If you look at the list of the magazines that have gone to online, almost all of them have been magazines in trouble,” said John Fennell, a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. “Magazines in general are going to be dependent on print advertising for a long time into the future,” he said.

But magazine and newspaper publishers have been contending with a decline in advertising at the same time that their costs, including ink, printing, and distribution, are rising.

I just hope publishers will be able to afford to keep journalists employed.  Independent journals and journalists are necessary for a successful capitalist and democratic society, and the pressure on their industry these days is enormous. 

As for the medium itself, I also think one sees a lot more when one looks at a printed page as opposed to a screen.  This is the case even for Kindle and other new devices aimed specifically at readers.

Related posts:

1. Dying Media