So I’m guilty of looking at Newsweek’s cover, deciding if the cover story is interesting enough to read the mag, and then tossing/perusing accordingly. The Oprah issue got my attention and so I opened it…
…wow, very cool. It’s like the DNA of Newsweek got intertwined with SPIN or Vibe or something. Lots of neat graphical changes, and it still looks authoritative. It’s like your great-uncle who is very smart got a haircut and goatee to go with his Audi TT convertible.
What do you think? Do you like it? Don’t like it? Hadn’t noticed?
It’s more than a new look, it’s a total makeover of what a newsmagazine should be.
Newsweek has essentially dropped all hard or breaking news coverage. It’s cover story is an extensive look at an issue that tries to gives a solid amount of background information. Beyond that the entire issue is commentary.
Making a comment on this new format is like judging the new Tonight Show after the first week. It will take months before they figure out what the proper balance and depth should be.
If forced, I would say that concentrating on a single major subject has pros and cons. If you’re not interested in that subject, the whole issue is mostly ruined. The pages of columnists sometimes works and sometimes gets repetitive. The cultural commentary is mostly a waste. The long “worthy” cover stories are sometimes so worthy that they get boring. It’s a work in progress.
I wish they didn’t use the font that used to be used for advertising. I flipped through about 15 pages before I realised it was the magazine content and not advertising.
Mostly what the redesign did was remind me how rough the seas are these days for the print world. Having trouble moving enough copies? Then it’s time to slap on a new coat of paint and juggle things around!
To its credit, Newsweek’s redesign was not a cynical way to sneak through a smaller product. By contrast, when I picked up the first issue of the redesigned Playboy earlier this year, I was pretty stunned by how slim it was.
It’s an honest, legitimate attempt to reinvent the magazine for a changing market, but it’s not for me. Too many essays/commentaries and not enough multi-source reporting. If I wanted the Atlantic, I’d subscribe to the Atlantic.
I was willing to give it a few weeks looksee, but will not be renewing my subscription.
I am certain the changes have lowered their bottom line, since they’ve crammed in as much op-ed crap as possible, rather than actual news which might require, you know, investigative reporting, fact-checking, that sort of thing. Much cheaper to let Fareed Zakaria or George Will bloviate for a page or six. I don’t find any of their opinion talking heads to be compelling, so I basically skip over a large portion of the mag, now.
Furthermore, I find it vaguely insulting that they have to emphasize the most important sentence in their short storylets with red text. I’m not so dumb that I can’t read an entire paragraph about Gordon Brown, and instead must be made to note that “The irony is that at the same time he’s being pilloried at home, he has never had a higher standing overseas.” That sort of thing is what the title of the piece is for.
And they’ve also added even more sidebars telling us what we’re supposed to like and not like, what’s cool and isn’t. It’s their vapid CW feature expanded into ever more annoying areas. As if I’m going to start loving Respect Sextet or hating Dave Matthews Band because Newsweek tells me to.
Please. Newsweek employs George Will, and puts his picture next to his stuff now, so we’ll be certain to notice and follow avidly. I’m not interested in a magazine that thinks it can present itself as plugged in to what’s in and what’s out, and caters to George Will, too. Or, hell, thinks spending a third of a page on what Ray Romano thinks are the best. shows. ever. is “news”.
This isn’t a big change: Newsweek has been moving away from breaking news and into commentary the past several years. The change is a final step in a long evolution. But with only one issue a week, they can’t compete at all with breaking news. They really had to either move into commentary or to try to follow The Economist (which is thriving these days) by focusing on news events that don’t make the electronic news (like reports from Africa, Asia, and in countries that are overlooked).
I’ve been a subscriber since the mid-70s, and my parents subscribed while I was growing up. I have found some good analysis in the new format, so I’ll continue.
If it were Newsweek’s intention to be smaller, they would not be using an entire title page with stock photo for each of their new sections (Scope, the Take, Features, Culture, etc.).
And, did people really think Newsweek was ever good at reporting on breaking stories? They’ve broken a few stories, but I’ve always thought that overview stories supported by good journalism/research was more their thing.
Yes, but most consumer publications aim for a steady ratio of advertising and editorial space. (The norm was 50/50 a few years ago when I was in the business.) Significantly shifting toward less editorial for the same amount of advertising reduces the value of the ad space. No client wants their ad to be lost in the clutter. Advertisers pay to be adjacent to copy and separated from competitors ads.
Of course. And anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to pass off their expertise on one magazine as applying to every magazine in existence.
While it’s not high-falutin’ readin’, Play Magazine has been slimming down purposely in the last few years. The Previews section is a few pages shorter than it used to be and the Anime/Movies section is downright anemic. What once was 10-15 pages has now been cut back to five.
I do think in this day and age of CNN, blogs, etc. breaking news is not what I need Newsweek for. So I’m fine not getting that from the mag. The big red text isn’t a problem either.
One of other favorite magazines, Q, had a recent redesign and content shift… and I hate it. I sure as hell don’t want to read commentary about music - just reviews and interviews, please. But it seems to work well with Newsweek for me. (Though I could have done without Ray Romano’s favorite series bit… I managed to avoid this tool when he was in prime time, now he’s stalking me in Newsweek?