Why Newsweek is the Punch Line
By Allie Winegar Duzett | November 10, 2009
"If we can't convince a million and a half people we're worth less than a dollar a week, the market will have spoken," Newsweek's editor Jon Meacham said in May 2009, according to Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. And Meacham has been working hard to make his dream come true, by featuring such laughable headlines as The Thinking Man's Thinking Man: Al Gore's New Plan for the Planet, Yes He Can (But He Sure Hasn't Yet): A Liberal's Survival Guide, and my personal favorite, Why Joe Is No Joke: From Afghanistan to Health Care, A Vice President to Be Reckoned With, a hilarious attempt to validate Joe Biden. At this point, the number of Americans who believe Newsweek is worth more than a dollar a week is shrinking faster than Harry Reid's approval ratings.
Still, Meacham should be lauded for his cunning here. Newsweek lost almost $20 million in the first quarter of this year; in response, Meacham said that he would attempt to cut readership in order to increase profits (see the link to Howard Kurtz's article). His plan involved "discouraging renewals," ostensibly by creating a magazine so far to the left that no rational human being could take it seriously, and "targeting a more highbrow audience" (the term "highbrow" being used in the loosest possible sense). By claiming it was his plan all along to isolate the vast majority of readers, Meacham can still grasp at the elusive straws of credibility.
It may be safe to say that Newsweek has never needed that credibility more. For example, the November 9th edition of Newsweek (The Thinking Man's Thinking Man) calls Al Gore a "prophet" several times, in multiple articles. Newsweek contributor Sharon Begley writes glowingly of Gore, praising him for everything from his optimism to his spirituality in her article The Evolution of an Eco-Prophet. She calls him "fact-filled," largely ignoring the growing scientific dissent with his claims, and essentially admits her unquestioning faith in the "eco-prophet": "One has absolutely no trouble-none, zero, nil-believing him," she writes.
On the other hand, Meacham doesn't bother explaining how easy it was for him to believe Al Gore, and he doesn't need to. He made his own faith in Gore all too clear with his own November 9th article, Recycling Won't Save Us, But Greed Might. The entire article presumes that Gore's claims are all correct, and calls Gore a prophet twice.
This eco-alarmism from Newsweek is truly fascinating, considering the fact that as of October 26, 2009, according to statistics from the Pew Research Center, more Americans believe in haunted houses than believe in manmade global warming. Given that fact, perhaps Newsweek would have been better off if they'd focused their November 9th edition on ghost stories rather than the alleged global warming and Al Gore's "evolution."
On the other hand, Meacham's apparent goal is to make at least a million and a half people think Newsweek is worthless this year. So in reality, he's actually doing a great job when it comes to courting American readership.
Meacham's suicidal strategy may defy all logic, but those striving for accuracy in media shouldn't stand in his way. If he wants to drive Newsweek into the ground, by golly, let's help him. He might think that "Joe is no joke," but in reality, his publication is the punch line.
Allie Winegar Duzett is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.
11 Comments | Post a Comment
When I was in school years ago Newsweek gave away free 1 year subscriptions through the school. I canceled my free subscription after a few months. It just wasn’t worth it.
We got Newsweek last year via by burning some useless Air Miles. Little did we know the Newsweek subscription was even more useless.
We actually tried to read it in the beginning because ....well…..we just didn’t know how far left it had drifted.
By the end of 2008, I’d go to my mailbox, see the new cover of Obama and drop it in the trash with the rest of the junkmail.
Newsweek’s decline has been similar to going through the psychological stages of losing a loved one. I know puns on its title are lame, but why try to rise above mediocrity when the subject is so mired in it?
In the 80s and nearly all the 90s I subscribed and regarded it best among the newsmagazines and a fun read even if I disagreed—Newsweek.
Around 2000, it became apparently wobbly along with the rest of the traditional media outlets (not yet known to us as “mainstream media”). Disenchanted, I canceled the subscription and would occasionally pickup a copy of what it had become and it would reaffirm my decision—Newsweak.
Then Meacham took the mag into a hard left turn wagering the inertia of readers’ trust in the brand would give its altogether leftist message the appearance of a sensible middle-of-the-road direction. My heart felt unexpected nostalgic pain as the magazine left town—Newsweep.
Now as it is firmly entrenched in its decision, I hope for more coverage like this and hope soon readers (and those who may still carry its establishment image of old) come to full realization this product is no longer Newsweek and does not deserve that title nor the benefit of doubt it engendered in its journalistic past. The time has come to regard it as what it truly is and the best use of the paper it’s printed on—Newswipe.
When Newsweek finally rolls down its doors in a few months, Meacham can Move On to the Washington Post and implement a similar strategy. Oh, wait. Someone’s beat him to it already.
Great. Now what do I read when I’m on the toilet at the Gas Station?
Since Newsweek is merely an echo of the other liberal press organs (I won’t get into which organs those are), its uslessness nlow rivals screen dors on a submarine. It is just about that effective in presenting actual “news”.
I subscribed to Newsweek for about 25 years, then cancelled about two years ago. Over time, Newsweek smply stopped ‘reporting’ news and instead became a non-stop mouthpiece for both the Democratic party and every leftish issue around. Each week when it arrived, it was nothing but the Democratic party line. As a ‘magazine’ it won’t be around much longer. Adn good riddance when it ceases publishing.
I agree with everything said so far, but I feel it’s unfair to lump all of Newsweek’s editorial staff in the same bucket as upper management. I suspect many, if not most, of the reporters, photographers, low-level editors, researchers, compositors, and others, want to work as legitimate journalists. That is probably true too at other biased news outlets like MSNBC and Fox News.
It’s sad that if Newsweek folds because of its politics, it will unemploy hundreds of good people. But, then, that’s par for the course these days.
The fact is, Fox is the only news agency who still does investigative reporting. I am speaking of their actual news shows, not the entertainment shows such as Hannity, Beck, or O’Reilley (although I do enjoy Beck and O’Reilley’s commentary).
Nielsen reported in their latest poll, that Fox News viewers are:
Republican: 40%
Democrat: 40%
Independent: 10%
I realize Brit Hume has earned the upper management job, but he was always good as an Anchor, even during the 23 years at CBS News, the only good real reporter they had left.
Without balanced news outlets, the Democrats/Liberals could get away with anything the want, since all the others are in Obama’s pocket, they may as well be State Run News shows.
Going on 14 years on the air, Fox News has never had to apologize for a story, nor have they had to make a retraction. They just report the news, something the other networks have forgotten.
I would be willing to bet no other news outlet played Colin Powell’s comments about Obama yesterday, the criticism part anyway. I would not even waste my time reading Newsweek. And would I not attempt to use it’s pages a toilet paper, it would be redundant.
We have three Dish Network dual tuner HD Receivers all with 300 hour built-in DVR’s, the one in the Family room has an add on External 750GB Hard Drive for storage, or to watch from, the point is, I record all the other evening news shows and scan them to see if they will actually report the real news…they do not.
Newsweek claiming they are intentionally discouraging readers is a sad excuse for their sever drop in readership. You know it’s bad when stupid people do not believe the crap in that magazine.
I’m often “flabbergasted” when I read Newsweek. (I finally found a use for one of my wife’s ubiquitous words which I generally hate!) I now immediately add Newsweek to the shredding pile I use for packing material, after glancing over it to reaffirm my opinon of its worthlessness (I’m glad to find so many others of the same opinion). They even have George Will, my least favorite conservative, whom I will not miss. I’m very sorry for Meacham. He always seemed a good, egg,extremely likeable and obviously very intelligent, but the magazine’s hopeless. I’m also sorry for the many workers who will soon be unemployed. Perhaps Meacham could mercifully prevent that future unemployment by firing half of his journalism staff and replacing them with conservative journalists (who although rare, do exist) to save the jobs of the more deserving workers. It such a sad day for journalists! I often think of the idea in Something of Value. If the Leftists are out destroy Amereica’s great traditions, Christianity and capitalism, they should at least endeavor to replace them with at least something else of value, some alternative truth.
November 10 at 6:52 pm | #1 | Link
It gets scarier. The latest Newsweak issue (11/16/09) has the cover headline:
“How We (Could Have) Won the Vietnam War”
This would be funny, except I believe its a psy-ops for a new Vietnam in Afghanistan…prepping the American sheeple, er, people.
Next up will be a military draft, women included. Yes, I said it: draft. And “emergency” plans (Operation Gardenplot) are all in place so that there cannot and will not be another war-stopper of dissension like in the ‘60s. They’ve thought of everything.
Ironic, because all these old hippies are in power now driving the one-world-government WW 3 machine.
“Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord” ... for these war criminals, yes, including Obama, Mr. Bush-on-steriods and his puppetmasters like Soros and Zbig and the international banksters.