Jet magazine to no longer print, changing to digital app

After first hitting newsstands at the dawn of the civil rights era, Jet magazine will go all digital at the end of June. The app will launch on June 30 and cost $20 a year.

NEW YORK — Jet magazine, which first hit newsstands at the dawn of the civil rights era, is ceasing regular print publication and transforming into a digital app.

Johnson Publishing Co., which owns Jet along with Ebony magazine, says the switch will occur at the end of June. The Chicago-based company says the move is a proactive effort to adapt to its readers’ growing desires for quicker and easier access to information.

Desiree Rogers, Johnson Publishing’s CEO says the change will take the magazine back to its roots. She notes that Jet, which was founded by John Johnson in November 1951, was originally intended as a newsweekly digest for African-Americans living in an increasingly faster-paced world.

At that time, the magazine cost 15 cents and was small enough to be carried in a purse or a pocket, perfect for on-the-go information, just like today’s smartphones and tablets.

Read more at NY Daily News.

Credit: The Associated Press