Print to digital or just giving up?

After returning to school after the break, I checked my mailbox and of course it was full of the magazines that came over break.  As I began to process them to put them out on the library floor, a couple covers caught my eye.  First, the headline on the Newsweek issue is "#LASTPRINTISSUE".  I thought it might be a publicity stunt to get some to open the issue, but, nope, it really is the last print issue.  
As I read Editor in Chief, Tina Brown's "Perisope" issue introduction titled, "A New Chapter: Sometimes, change isn't just good, it's necessary," it seems that she makes an apologetic "sorry, but we tried" statement.  She talks about how in 2010 Sidney Harmon purchased Newsweek from the Washington Post company to attempt to save the magazine.  Then she goes on a two page summary of the "heroic" efforts of attempting to revive the publication.  Brown concludes with a statement that "this is not a conventional magazine" and they are embracing a digital medium "that our competitors will one day need to embrace with the same fervor."  I'm not buying this "we are innovators" speech.  A note on the side of her editorial notes that digital Newsweek will be found in iTunes, Zinio, Google, Kindle or Nook.  She says that her competitors, who I am assuming are Time and other news magazines, will need to follow up with the same fervor.  I hate to notify Tina Brown, but the other major news magazines have already done this, but have managed to keep a print magazine.  What I think Brown is saying is, we gave it a go as print, now we will try digital to save on printing and postage, but we may just fade away, so farewell.  I would have preferred an honest statement of, we gave it our best shot to bring the integrity back to the Newsweek brand and it just didn't work, so now we are rebranding as a digital publication.  Good luck Newsweek.  
In my introduction, I mentioned that two covers caught my eye.  The second caught my eye, probably, because of the Newsweek cover.  While the Newsweek brand is basically hanging it up after 80 years, National Geographic is celebrating it's 125th anniversary with a Special Issue.  I realize they are two completely different animals, but what an interesting juxtaposition.