Starting today, one of Brazil's oldest newspapers will be available online-only. Due to mounting debts and low circulation, the Jornal do Brasil has stopped publishing a print version, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas reported.

"Quality. Interactivity. Respect for Ecology. Alignment with the future. Innovation," the publication stated in defense of its switch to online-only. The decision was the result of lengthy analysis and a reader survey. "In these last weeks, some readers of JB - and especially many non-readers - have expressed legitimate and democratically in favour of maintaining the paper version of the newspaper ... In their arguments, there have been references to the story of JB, its great characters, the glorious career as a space for freedoms. The fact is that these assets are not lost, but expanded again in the electronic medium," the article states. "They can not choose to close their eyes - not to the future - but to the present media around the world: the way, relentless and increasing the digital age ... The JB will still exist - agile, modern and influential."

In June, the newspaper published an ad inviting readers to participate on an online survey regarding the possible publishing change. However, the final decision came in July.

According to the local press, Tanure's decision is an attempt to solve the daily's financial problems and its low print circulation, which has fallen to 17,000 copies during the week and 22,000 on Sundays, the Knight Center explained at the time.

Nonetheless, the executive director of the National Association of Newspapers Ricardo Perera said the decline of Jonal do Brasil's circulation was a rare case. Since the beginning of the year, newspaper circulation in Brazil has increased by 1.5 percent, Hora Zero reported.

The daily, which in 1995 became the first Brazilian newspaper to launch an online edition, published its first edition in 1891.