Posted on 01/18/2009 11:02:26 AM PST by Sammy67
Battered by a one-two punch of declining readership and ad pages, Newsweek magazine is getting an extreme makeover this year that will include a large circulation reduction, deep cuts in operating costs, and a new effort to attract advertisers by concentrating on an elite audience.
According to The New York Times, executives at Newsweek say the retooled magazine will focus on being a "thought leader" that focuses on telling readers how to think about news, rather than telling people what happened in the last week. The plan, similar to the editorial outlook espoused by The Economist magazine, is aimed at helping the newsweekly better compete in the face of competition from cable TV and the Internet. The transformation will likely include more analysis, commentary, and news-related feature articles.
“We’re not in the business of telling people the news,” Richard Stengel, managing editor of Newsweek's rival Time, told the Times. “News has become a commodity. They already
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
They can stop all their circulation as for I’m concerned!!
Newsunweek
And so intensifies the Obama propaganda machine.....
I don’t want to be told “what to think” about the news; I think what I think about the news, thank you very much!
Newsdecade, Newscentury or Newsmillenium?
There's the problem, elitist mentality.
Is Newsweek that magazine that goes to Doctor and Dentist offices?
Is Highlight still around too?
If they want to imitate The Economist, first, they'll have to fire all the journalism majors and hire actual educated people to write for them, then actually undertake a commitment to objective reporting and confining editorial opinion to editorials and identifiably subjective analysis columns.
US News and World Report did this a few months ago. It’s kind of hard to keep on top of stories that might be a fortnight old by the time you report on them. It’s quite possible that in a world where we have three 24/7 news channels, and Internet news available at literally every second, even the idea of a weekly news magazine is looking rather dated.
Actually, it probably means going to a 50 or 49 issue per year format.
I imagine in the next millenium, they'll still be singing the praises of Obama's latest perceived accomplishment.
Why?
Is the readership of that rag now all of the sudden demanding unbiased and truthful conveyance?
What kind of “elite audience” needs to be “told how to think about news”. Elite of drooling a**hats?
“...executives at Newsweek say the retooled magazine will focus on being a “thought leader” that focuses on telling readers how to think about news, rather than telling people what happened in the last week...”
Can you believe it? That was a real knee-slapper!
Saw it a few months ago at my dentists office.
...and a new effort to attract advertisers by concentrating on an elite audience.
And where do you suppose they are going to drum up an elite audience from? They don’t have one now.
FIRST STEP, NO WEEKLY DISTRRIBUTION, SECOND STEP, NO MONTHLY DISTRIBUTION, FINAL STEP....SHUT THE DOORS.
Highlights is still around but last time I looked at it I got the definite impression it had gone PC.
I guess that's the kind of news they want to get away from?
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