For centuries, readers thumbed through the crackling pages of Sweden’s Post-och Inrikes Tidningar newspaper. No longer. The world’s oldest paper still in circulation has dropped its paper edition and now exists only in cyberspace. The newspaper, founded in 1645 by Sweden’s Queen Kristina, became a Web-only publication on January 1. It’s a fate, many ink-stained writers and readers fear, that may await many of the world’s most venerable journals.

“We think it’s a cultural disaster,” said Hans Holm, who served as the chief editor of Post-och Inrikes Tidningar for 20 years. “It is sad when you have worked with it for so long and it has been around for so long.”

Today, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar, which means mail and domestic tidings, runs legal announcements by corporations, courts and certain government agencies – about 1,500 a day according to Olov Vikstrom, the current editor.