“The Decline and Fall of Newsweek”
I opened up my mailbox in RPCC today to find a letter from The Economist requesting that I renew my subscription at a new, discounted offer. Giddy with excitement, I quickly filled out the form and sent off the check. The Economist, best described as a right leaning, “classically liberal” British news magazine, has managed to remain increasingly relevant even in these testing times for conservative principles. The same can’t be said of its American counterpart, of sorts (?), Newsweek. I stumbled upon this rather entertaining column earlier today.
Newsweek greeted the coming of Easter with a black cover, and the headline “The Decline and Fall of Christian America,” spelled out in red in the shape of a cross. Inside, it was more declarative: “The End of Christian America.” Why? Because they found that the percentage of self-identified Christians had fallen 10 points since 1990. OK, then let’s compare. How much has Newsweek’s circulation fallen since 1990? Just since 2007, their announced circulation has dropped by 52 percent. It would be more plausible to state “The End of Newsweek.”
Give them credit, though, because they are working diligently to go down hard with the ship:
Newsweek’s strategy in the midst of all its financial decline is to double and triple the amount of editorializing, cast aside all semblance of “news” in favor of long, liberal essays by self-impressed Newsweek editor Jon Meacham and his international editor Fareed Zakaria. Is that really a business solution, or is it the captains performing violin solos on the deck of the Titanic?
My family ended its subscription last summer after many years of semi-curious reading. Curious to me, at least, is how, in the midst of this global financial crisis and the dominance of “liberal ideas,” Fox News is on the big ups and Newsweek/NYT are going down hard.
