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Newsweek Goes Weakly

By on 10.19.12 @ 6:08AM

Some might say, it wimped out.

Four years ago, Newsweek proclaimed “the end of conservatism.” Newsweek announced this week that it would reach its end as a print publication on New Year’s Eve. Don’t expect conservatives to break into “Auld Lang Syne.”

Henry Hazlitt, whose “Business Tides” column graced Newsweek’s pages from 1946 to 1966, got an early bead on the magazine’s downward spiral when the Graham family publishing tycoons purchased the magazine in the early sixties. The Economics in One Lesson author didn’t exactly predict his employer would spike the biggest sex scandal in American political history or run a demeaning cover photo of a conservative woman in running shorts. But when Newsweek axed Hazlitt after writing articles that had run afoul of the Graham family’s liberal politics, he knew it was not the same magazine that had hired him. Hazlitt could see the writing on the wall once he couldn’t see his writing on Newsweek’s pages.

That was the beginning of the end. The end of the end was painful and protracted. Like its competitors, Newsweek faced challenges from the Internet and a less literate public. Unlike its competitors, Newsweek didn’t meet those challenges.

Why will shelves hold Time in 2013 but not Newsweek?

The answer lies more in Newsweek’s print past than in its digital future, which, given that the subset of the Daily Beast doesn’t even have its own independent web address, doesn’t appear very promising. The weekly undermined its credibility and advertised its bias. How long can you insult the bulk of your readership and retain a readership?

Newsweek inflicted a damaging blow to itself in 2007 when it published an overheated cover story on global warming that referred twelve times to questioners of the human-causation theory as “the denial machine.” Lacking both a thesaurus and perspective, Sharon Begley implicitly compared global-warming skeptics to Holocaust deniers, the latter rejecting historical truth and the former rejecting scientific truth. The “denial machine,” you see, had unleashed “a paralyzing fog of doubt” upon blissful uniformity. And questioning is just not science — at least according to Newsweek.

In an unusual move, Robert J. Samuelson, one of the magazine’s longest serving and most respected writers, dubbed the piece “a highly contrived story” and a case study of how “self-righteous indignation can undermine good journalism.” A few years later, the publication — which in 1975 had so worried about an Ice Age that it discussed artificially melting the polar caps — declared that “green politics has fallen from its lofty heights.”

The point here isn’t necessarily that Newsweek is wrong. It’s that the publication is other-directed. A magazine caught up in trends can’t help but become a casualty of them.

The style and substance of the current issue’s four book reviews, collectively titled “Illicit Loves: Four New Novels on Desire and Fear” and individually allocated less than 70 words apiece, demonstrate the degree to which the publication has thrown in the towel. The bizarre solution to declining readership of directing content toward nonreaders takes an even more farcical turn in book reviews slightly longer, and far less insightful, than a child’s haiku. That the subject matter (incest and a woman’s affair with a boy) of two of the books would be unfit for Penthouse “Forum” says much about why Newsweek has become so marginalized. When they take the silly so seriously even the silly cease taking them seriously.

Like the book reviewers, Newsweek’s reporters put their heads in the toilet.

The 2005 report that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had flushed a Koran down the toilet could have been written by a sandwich-board protester at a Bush-era International Answer rally. The basis of the story was a Pentagon official’s “no comment.” Don Imus queried Newsweek’s Howard Fineman: “He [the Pentagon official] didn’t confirm it or didn’t deny it or anything, right?” Fineman answered: “Well, he didn’t deny it.” A flummoxed Imus retorted: “He didn’t confirm it either.”

Newsweek lied. More than a dozen rioting Muslims died.

When a radio shock-jock schools a venerable publication on journalistic ethics, it’s a sign that the magazine will soon cease being both venerable and a magazine. The pattern of ideologues seizing an institution with a sterling reputation — see any number of foundations or universities — only to sully it is by now a familiar one.

Two years ago, Sidney Harman bought Newsweek for $1. He got ripped off. The weekly, which had become untrustworthy to a huge segment of its target audience, bled money. Newsweek outliving its nonagenarian owner startled the actuarial tables.

Newsweek now appears to the public as its content does: last week’s news. Editor-in-chief Tina Brown announced Thursday, “We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it.” The “we” speaks for one. Most people said goodbye long ago.

About the Author

Daniel J. Flynn, the author of The War on Football: Saving America’s Game, blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (51) |

Appleby| 10.19.12 @ 6:43AM

When you start turning the world over to TheKids and you start seeing what kind of world they're going to produce, you'll get the full impact of the phrase "Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind" -- two full generations of illiterate tweetheads whose manners, morals and fixations will generate a logo of a dog sniffing another dog's backside, and whose prose is unreadable and unmemorable in the extreme. Fortunately, there are still adults in the house; and of course the trend is that conservatives who love children are the ones giving birth these days. But it's going to be a nasty 20 years before those kids grow up. And I wish you liberals joy of the nasty little world you have made.

drudge ette obama| 10.19.12 @ 6:55AM

I hear Eva Longoria (a/k/a "foul mouth" ) still has a subscription.

C. Vernon Crisler | 10.19.12 @ 7:53AM

What, I thought she was the editor...

Rifleman| 10.20.12 @ 4:04PM

She can read?

Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 10.21.12 @ 7:04PM

Newspeak: People Magazine without the cheesecake and hunks.

Jacob McCandles| 10.19.12 @ 8:10AM

I sometimes wish the liberals would have to endure the results of their policies. Every time the leftist/statists create a huge mess, conservative principles save the nation again and allow them to continue to enjoy the highest standard of living in history, spewing hatred and nonsense from their mobile phones and laptops.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.19.12 @ 8:47AM

I would say that I sometimes wish that only liberals would have to endure the results of their policies, instead of the rest of us as well.

Jacob McCandles| 10.19.12 @ 10:33AM

..and if we had remained true to the founders' principles we would have that in California..

Occam's Tool| 10.19.12 @ 3:34PM

Now Time needs to go, then the NYT, etc.

Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 10.19.12 @ 6:16PM

"two full generations of illiterate tweetheads"

More like the lead character in 'Clockwork Orange' than illiterate. They know a great deal yet they are nihilists.

Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 10.19.12 @ 6:21PM

...Appleby,
take a good long gander at bratty teenage and twenty-somethings around you: they can read, they know much, but there is no center to them, no core beliefs;
"it's like... whatever, dude.. let's smoke some stuff and drink a brewskie..."

Appleby| 10.20.12 @ 7:20AM

That's it exactly. My father was saying 10 years ago, "There may be more information around these days, but there isn't more KNOWLEDGE." I am increasingly noticing that the tweetheads don't know the difference. And to quote Mr. Weasly in the second Harry Potter book, 'Don't trust anything if you can't see where it keeps its brain." If that square of plastic you clutch with your last ebbing strength contains your life, think what will happen to you when the Victim of Society on his way out of the bus snatches your brain away....

Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 10.21.12 @ 7:10PM

'Clockwork Orange' wasn't ahead of its time, it was right on time.

Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 10.21.12 @ 7:13PM

... Appleby,
youth are getting bad advice from their Boomer parents and worse advice from their peers.

Dodd2| 10.19.12 @ 7:12AM

Let the leftwing rag die.

Ditto for the New York Times, the LA Times, etc.

Joellen| 10.19.12 @ 7:43AM

Newsweek dead; The Times Dying, media print just about done = JUSTICE SERVED!

Maxwell| 10.19.12 @ 8:45AM

Only problem is when the New York Times & Newsweek go belly up, what are most people going to use to line their bird cages?

Occam's Tool| 10.19.12 @ 3:35PM

LA Times, Maxwell; followed by the SF Chronicle, the Minneapolis Star-Telegram, and more. Dread Nought, my friend.

TLP| 10.19.12 @ 9:19AM

I need you to do me a favour, Joellen.

I need you to go back in time, one day, and go Looking At Tunisia.

Would you do that for me?

Thanks.

mike 3/505| 10.19.12 @ 9:25AM

Sly Dog

Joellen| 10.19.12 @ 10:44AM

I'll be there later after work. Still paying/buying those obama phones till Nov 6th.

TLP| 10.19.12 @ 10:56AM

See that, Sir?

I still got it.

Did you go back to Yesterday and go "Look At Tunisia"?

Von Mises Jr| 10.19.12 @ 9:59AM

Is there still a Sears Catalog? I think this was very valuable back in the day in outdoor latrines.

If Newsweek is no longer in print, what shall the bitter clingers wipe their bums with?

TLP| 10.19.12 @ 10:57AM

It's the end of the 'Waiting Room' as we know it.

Drunken Sailor| 10.19.12 @ 2:29PM

I would suggest Obama campaign poster, and photo's but then how would you know when your done wiping?

TLP| 10.19.12 @ 2:47PM

Get to the Contest.

It could use your, shall we say: Genasaqua.

Kwan| 10.19.12 @ 8:30AM

Evidently Newsweek is having a hard time finding enough dopes willing to fork over money for their weekly dose of left-wing propaganda. Perhaps 3+ years of seeing the results of the most radical left-wing President in American history, is causing more and more Americans to see left-wing ideology in a clearer light. For now Newsweek is taking the path of its fellow leftist propaganda rag The Daily Worker now online as Peoplesworld.

tankrtrash| 10.19.12 @ 8:38AM

Unfortunately many of the hacks that contributed to it's demise are still out there... Jonathan Alter, Evan Thomas, Howard Fineman. Too bad they weren't "chained in the hold" as this garbage scow slips quietly by the bow, without a ripple.

TLP| 10.19.12 @ 2:48PM

Fortune Cookie sometime say - To understand the Contest of Today? One must sometimes look to the Past. Specifically to Yesterday, and go Looking At Tunisia.

Lullabys Legends and Lies| 10.19.12 @ 9:04AM

Newsweek's done now, but the New York Times is still left to go!! So our work is not yet done, although it's rather easy work to finish off, just don't buy it!! Dismiss us, and we'll dismiss you!!

TLP| 10.19.12 @ 9:22AM

There's a Contest Today, gentlemen.

The only problem is, you're gonna have to go back to Yesterday, and Go Looking At Tunisia.

There's Prizes.

Harry the Horrible| 10.19.12 @ 9:37AM

I have a subscription to News Week.
I didn't buy it, and it goes straight from the mailbox to the garbage can on the way into the house.

Skippy| 10.19.12 @ 2:42PM

I got one of those earlier this year.
How in the heck did they think I was a potential paying subscriber?
There was a nice article on The Queen at her Diamond Jubilee though.
Guest author, of course.

Anthony| 10.19.12 @ 9:41AM

Leftism is falling apart in all the major institutions it controls. Leftism has almost destroyed all of our great institutions.
Obozo is exposed for the empty suit leftist hack that he is, clueless, doctrinaire, incompetent, and cold blooded.
The Democrat Party is the closest to party facism that America has ever witnessed. They are no longer hiding their totalitarian designs. A 2nd Obozo term will indeed bring civil unrest, as he dismantles our Constitutional Republic.
The media have become total and complete leftist shills hence, the demise of the industry now known as the Old Media.
The collapse of academia, both in higher education and in the public schools, is a concern now for all thinking Americans.
This election is for all the marbles. A Romney victory is not just a victory against the facist Democrat Party, it will represent a victory against the corruption in both the media and academia.
It's time to clean house by any means necessary.

Who Knows?| 10.19.12 @ 10:58AM

Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report---

Ah, the big three.

Back in the 50’s, I spent a fair amount of time in the library using them as sources for reports. These days, once in a while, I grab a random copy from that decade and skim it.

Oh, how much more balanced and serious they were!

And, the ads are very edifying. So many products that no longer even exist, plus all the cigarette, liquor, and especially “groovy” for a car guy, like me, automobile ads. I always went nuts from 1955 on, when the new models came out! The 1955, 1956, and 1957 years were the best, IMHO, and after 1958—well, not so great, but okay.

And, as for book reviews! Or, movie reviews, and even reviews of the plays on Broadway.

So much dumbing down, so little time!

djn1313| 10.19.12 @ 11:59AM

NO LOSS - progressive/socialist/liberal trash

djn1313| 10.19.12 @ 12:00PM

NY Times is next

Rifleman| 10.20.12 @ 4:02PM

Well on their way, yes...

djn1313| 10.19.12 @ 12:04PM

I guess its readers -- welfare recipients, food stamp cheats, union thugs, and illegal immigrants can't read anymore thanks to the progressive/socialist educational system

loulou| 10.19.12 @ 12:04PM

Good riddence but will anyone even notice?

KennesawJack| 10.19.12 @ 1:31PM

No. Not, really.

TLP| 10.19.12 @ 2:50PM

I'm thinking that the various Puppy Mills will be Devistated.

JD| 10.19.12 @ 12:58PM

Sharon Begley remains the dumbest person I've ever read. Her crowning "achievement" was an article expounding on her eureka moment: a discovery that health care is currently "rationed by ability to pay".

http://www.sharonlbegley.com/w.....ing-in-u-s

Also rationed by ability to pay? EVERYTHING ELSE!

In fact, the definition of the word ration, as printed in most dictionaries, is to "distribute by means other than ability to pay."

Begley's ObamaCare cheerleading (this article was printed before it was passed) required her to write this contradiction of an article for Newsweek, and the Lefties that flock to Newsweek ate it up.

TLP| 10.19.12 @ 2:51PM

There's a Contest Today.

The only problem is, you're gonna have to go back to Yesterday, and Go Looking At Tunisia.

There's Prizes.

Dave Williams| 10.19.12 @ 2:51PM

...and another one gone,
another one gone,
another one bites the dust!

.....YEAH!!!!!

BobbyBee| 10.19.12 @ 11:51PM

What will we use for toilet paper now in case of emergencies?

bison cookie| 10.20.12 @ 1:11PM

OBAMA TAUGHT “DESTROY MIDDLE CLASS”. Do you want to see Obama teaching his students the principles of Saul Alinsky? Barack Obama is desperate to make people believe that he really cares about “the middle class.” After four years, his actions speak louder than words. Some 85% of the middle class say they are worse off today than they were ten years ago. According to the Wall Street Journal, from the time Obama … READ MORE: http://bwcentral.org/2012/10/o.....dle-class/

Rifleman| 10.20.12 @ 4:01PM

Now the question is how long before TIME shares it's grave? Both have long outlived, not their usefulness, but their respectability. While a newsweekly might not sell like it used to I can see where a true newsweekly could capture an audience. The WEEK is far too liberal to establish any kind of lasting readership and it's nothing more than copy & paste from other sources anyway. During the late 70's early 80's both TIME and Newsweek served a purpose: informed us with great pictures. But when they both started "interpreting" the news for us they started killing their brand and readers. I stopped subscribing to TIME in the mid 90's or so as I grew weary of their obvious liberal bent and covers that celebrated causes or people that the average American neither knew nor cared about. And a news magazine can't survive with just liberal like-minded readers. I would say R.I.P. Newsweek but you died long ago....

Chef Schnauzer| 10.20.12 @ 5:46PM

The conduct of the Mainstream Media truly befuddles me. They no longer base their product on facts, the ignore their customer base and they have become oblivious to TRUTH. The business side, I guess, panders to the advertisers. The editorial side, I guess, panders to useless, faceless, back biting middle level staffers and people they agree with. I don't know if the average American realizes how badly an embolden, honest, and courageous Press is needed for the Republic to function. Cable news sycophants like Fineman have abdicated and flushed away a truly unique constitutional position. It has only come around once in history and they trashed it like drunk lower class men skipping lecture or celebrating crew victory.

gene| 10.22.12 @ 10:24AM

Whe thinking of "Newsweek", please let us all remember:
German musician Max Reger. Reger was notoriously irascible and didn't react well to a savage review by Rudolph Louis in Münchener Neueste Nachrichten, February 1906. His response was:

"I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me!"

Rhoetus| 11.18.12 @ 10:32PM

:-)

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