Egon Spengler, PhD, famously quipped, “Print is dead!” in the 1984 film Ghostbusters. As a man who spent his evenings chasing down ethereal forms of the deceased, perhaps he knew of the demise of the print medium before the rest of us.

Data from the Pew Research Center during the past 40 years confirm Spengler’s assertion.¹ In 1984, the estimated circulation of daily newspapers in America was more than 63 million. Since that time, print circulation has dwindled such that by 2020, circulation was roughly one-third its 1980s peak.

Why the shift? Television has outpaced newspapers as a source of information. Digital platforms now surpass all others for news distribution. The 65-plus age demographic obtains its news from print more than all other age groups; however, only one in five seniors in America read a newspaper daily.² For Gen Z, less than 10 percent of their daily news consumption comes in print. About half arrives via social media.³ With those headwinds in mind, it is no surprise that print publications, including ACEP Now, face similar threats.

ACEP News was created in January 1982 “to provide more timely and in depth news than was possible in the news pages of Annals.”⁴ Originally launched as a bi-monthly publication, ACEP News, later rebranded ACEP Now, evolved to reach more than 40,000 emergency physicians throughout the U.S. in print, with more than one million annual online visits.

Annals of Emergency Medicine, another ACEP publication, recently went fully digital, abandoning print and citing publication costs as a large consideration. Declining advertising dollars, a readership that continues to drift to digital, and a costly supply chain made this unfortunate transition inevitable.

Facing similar pressures, ACEP Now is shifting to a hybrid format in 2025. Instead of the typical 12 issues, you will receive just six print issues in your mailbox next year. However, we remain dedicated to providing content every month, alternating digital and print releases, and will continue to notify you of new material in our eNow edition.

You can expect to see online-only features, many of which will be interesting patient cases from readers like you, each Sunday in the eNow newsletter.

ACEP Now will continue to focus on four main areas: 1) updates from the College, 2) topical news stories relevant to emergency physicians, 3) clinical updates and medical education, and 4) opinions from emergency physicians around the globe.