They are desperately trying to put a positive spin on this. It always cracks me up how the Society wants it both ways. They will brag about the total circulation of the magazines as evidence of God's blessing. In the same article they will demonize the internet as being a tool of the devil.
Now they have to face realities. The publishing business is outmoded and they have been left behind. Now they will have to reconcile how they continue to demand that the "publishers" continue in the d2d in a world that is looking online for its information.
This is what the announcement will sound like to the conscious class....
Dear Slaves,
The past several years have brought about great change to the publishing industry. Even though we are a "bible and tract" society that has been supposedly appointed by God, paper and ink have become really expensive and we recognize that fewer people read the crap we publish. God isn't cutting us the same deal on printing supplies as in the past. It is undoubtably the paper unions being used by Satan to stymie the preaching work.
Therefore, in a blatant attempt to stop our financial hemmoraging, Jehovah has directed us to cut the magazines in half and to use the tool of the devil as the means of spreading our false message. Yes, God warned you recently about the internet but now he has changed his mind and directed that we merge all three websites together into a triad of information.
We pray that you supporters of our false religous scheme will continue to increase your hours in the pointless ministry with less product to sell. If anyone in the ministry wants to know the truth about Jehovah's Witnesses we invite them to use only jw.org to research our beliefs and practices.
Your devotion to us will continue to be shown by the amount of time that you spend delivering our URL to empty homes. You are reminded that June has 5 Saturdays and would be an excellent time to increase your activity.
Your masters,
Governing Body