'Newsweek' Is For Sale

The Washington Post Company announced yesterday that Newsweek magazine is for sale.

Long one of the two leading U.S. weekly news magazines (with Time, its longtime rival, and trailed by U.S. News and World Report, now a monthly), Newsweek was first published in 1933 and was acquired by the Washington Post Company in 1961.

The magazine has faced mounting operating losses and declining revenue, while circulation has fallen from 3.14 million in the first half of 2000 to 1.97 million in the second half of last year, reports the New York Times. It received a major makeover one year ago this month.

The first Newsweek cover, from 1933

Also quoted in the Times: Charles Whitaker of the Northwestern University school of Journalism, who says, "The era of mass is over." There would be good and bad in that....

Mike

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Poagao: "Ah, this explains why I've been able to get so many photos published in Time and The New Yorker lately. I haven't come up in the world; they've just come down."

Mike replies: I don't know about that. You're good. Have you really had pictures in Time and The New Yorker?

Looking down from Taipei 101 by Poagao (T.C. Lin)

Poagao's pictures

Comments

[Ludovic]

Interestingly (?) I just read yesterday an article in my local daily paper about how, alone among the weeklies, "The Economist" was doing quite all right, and the article itself linked to a rather good piece by The Altlantic discussing TE vs Time and Newsweek. Maybe others would enjoy it.

[JonA]

Newsweek's first issue came out on my birthday! I was -44 that year.

[David]

Why is 'Newsweek' in quotes? Is it not really Newsweek that is for sale?

[Richard T]

James Fallows of the Atlantic has, as usual, an interesting analysis of Newsweek's positioning dilemma in the magazine market:

http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/05/a-note-on-newsweek-long-updated/56277/

[Mike Johnston]

David,
It's proper format style for a headline. Here's a "fer instance":

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/backward-runs-newsweek

Mike

[Frank]

I'm not a wide angle shooter, but I do appreciate Poagao's photos, which opened a distinctive view of the familiar world around me that I haven't seen.

Thanks to Poagao, and thanks to Mike.

[Poagao]

Thanks, Frank and Mike. Yes, I have, but as I said, this doesn't have the same meaning as it might have in the heyday of these publications.

[Carl Blesch]

JonA - indeed, my birthday too! Except I was negative 19. Guess I have a few years on you.

[ObiJohn]

Newsweek is failing because the owners decided to change the editorial direction from objective news reporting to liberal advocacy. After all, it worked so well for Air America.

Oh, wait....