China Times Weekly and Want Weekly magazines, which have been sold together for the past few years, published their last paper editions Wednesday, according to the company president.
With print media taking a beating in an increasingly digital world, the weekly bundle is the third news-based magazine in Taiwan to cease its print edition in recent years, following Next Magazine which scrapped its print edition and went fully digital in 2018 and The Journalist in 2021.
Chen Su-yu (???), president of China Times Weekly and Want Weekly, said Wednesday the publisher, Want Want China Times Media Group, will stop printing the two weekly magazines and move them online.
Chen said he set up the CTWANT website and created digital versions of the two weeklies when he assumed the position two years ago, as he knew the print editions would be phased out.
Since the news website began operations, far more reports have appeared online each week than featured in the print editions and almost all the media outlet's advertising revenue comes from CTWANT.
"Advertising revenue from the paper-based magazines is no longer enough to cover the cost of printing, distributing and shipping them," Chen noted.
Chen said he was sorry for ending the print editions of the two weeklies, but in the digital era, even if it was decided not to scrap the print editions today, that would do no more than push the end date back half a year at most, he said.
Personnel in the paper edition department of the two weeklies will be largely unaffected by the change, Chen said, adding that only a few news editors and graphic designers working for the print editions will be laid off.
China Times Weekly was launched on March 5, 1978 as a monthly magazine dubbed China Times Magazine, only to be renamed and become a weekly in 1988.
Want Weekly was launched in April 16, 2014 and bundled with China Times Weekly on Jan. 10, 2018. The two weeklies were published every Wednesday.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel