The Bulletin publishes for the last time

Australia's oldest and best-known weekly news magazine, The Bulletin, has been published for the last time.

ACP Magazines chief executive officer, Scott Lorson, announced today that The Bulletin would cease publication immediately.

The current issue of the magazine, which went on sale on Wednesday, would be its last.

A spokeswoman for PBL Media confirmed that the magazine's website will not continue either. An insider said the website cannot stand alone as a profitable enterprise.

The Bulletin, launched in 1880, is Australia's longest-running magazine.

In a statement released on Thursday, Mr Lorson said the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures showed The Bulletin had 57,039 in sales in September last year.

This was well down on circulation highs of over 100,000 in the mid-1990s.

"This trend is consistent with that experienced by many leading weekly news and current affairs magazines globally and is somewhat symptomatic of the impact of the internet on this particular genre," Mr Lorson said.

"This is a sad day for all of us at ACP Magazines.

"The Bulletin has been an institution in Australian publishing and has provided its loyal readers with the best quality, in-depth news and current affairs analysis in the country.

"(It) has often set the political agenda, broken many important stories and won many awards for journalism over the years."

ACP Magazines is Australia's biggest magazine publisher, with a stable of more than 85 titles published in Australia and overseas, including The Australian Womens Weekly, Womans Day, Dolly, Cleo and Cosmopolitan.

The company is the magazine arm of leading Australian media and entertainment company, PBL Media.

PBL Media also owns 50 per cent of ninemsn in a jont venture with Microsoft.

Mr Lorson said the magazine had not been viable for some time, despite heavy investment in the title with top editorial, photographic and design staff.

"With limited prospects for improvement, the time has come to make a very tough decision," he said.

ACP Magazines publishing spokesman Phil Scott said The Bulletin's editor-in-chief, John Lehmann, had done an outstanding job since joining the magazine in mid-2006.

"John and his staff have maintained The Bulletin's commitment to quality journalism and tackling the tough issues.

"Under his guidance it has won a Walkley Award and three Magazine Publishers Australia Awards."

Chief executive officer of PBL Media, Ian Law, said the decision to close The Bulletin had been made reluctantly.

"We all had a sense of pride in the title," he said in the ACP statement.

"John Lehmann and his editorial team produced a top quality publication and should be commended.

"But the reality is that the publication has been running at a loss for a number of years and we could see no prospect of this trend being reversed."