No Time
It's sad to see formerly important newsweeklies go the way of the dodo, but I have to agree with Michael Kinsley's criticism of the Newsweek remake. It's true, though, there's not much they can do--the general format (as much as we need news sources) is becoming outmoded, but the last thing we need is another journal of opinion and analysis. I'd rather Newsweek have tried to keep doing what it was doing (just better), even if fewer want it. (Today's barren landscape makes John Podhoretz's reminsicence about the glory days of Time seem like a fairy tale.)
posted by LAGuy @ 12:24 AM
4 Comments:
If you want true opinion and analysis, you're going to go up market (upbrow?), not Newsweek. The best thing about its recent look was the snarky interview and tables on zeitgesit/hubris- it worked well as a slice of life peek at the current mood for about a second.
Death throes (which under Cheney's definition, means it has 5+ years to go)
Newsweek was highly successful and most new magazines fail. The odds of a change in strategy succeeding are thus extremely low. (Unless Obama assures us all experts agree with him that a change in strategy can't work. Then it's worth a shot.)
I remember when Donald Trump said Spy Magazine (which regularly attacked him) didn't have more than a year to go. Spy started a countdown to its doom each issue. They made it past a year, then started a countdown on how long Donald Trump had left to live. Of course, the joke would have been better if Spy didn't go under soon after.
But the new Newsweek maintains the same irritating practice as the old one of half-explaining, which is no use either to those who already know the story or to those who don't.
I think this is exactly the point. This is how Newsweek makes itself seem essential. The best page in Newsweek (after George Will's biweekly column) is the page full of quotes. But all of them sort of assume that you are familiar with the relevant news story. It's a great marketing technique because if you aren't familiar with the story, it makes you think that you ought to be.
Post a Comment
<< Home