Newsweek Gets It Too Late
“I don’t believe that Newsweek is the only catcher in the rye between democracy and ignorance, but I think we’re one of them. And I don’t think there are that many on the edge of that cliff.”
That’s Newsweek editor Jon Meacham on The Daily Show this week. The day when parent company The Washington Post announced the news weekly was up for sale. Another product of the “main stream media” faces problems. It’s safe to say the new owner will find some niche market to try to succeed in. It will acquire an agenda and so will go another blow to journalism.
“We produce a magazine all week...the emphasis has been on print. It’s probably time to flip that.” Mr. Meacham has seen the light. Unfortunately he has seen it a few years too late and his fine magazine will soon be a memory. One wonders if Newsweek hasn’t heard of comScore. Survey after survey has pointed to this trend for several years.
“Are we ready to get what we pay for?” say Meacham. “And if you’re not willing to pay you are going to get a different kind of news.” But is that not already another problem? Gulf War II, journalism let us down. The financial crash was an opportunity for business news to be journalist, and they failed. Fox has been allowed to call itself “news” without the journalistic community crying foul. Instead, many have joined the bandwagon of opinion and agenda disguised at journalism.
Newspapers started as highly opinionated slander rags. Over time, true journalism was born and prospered. Society benefited with having a proxy to represent them, to ask the questions they can’t. To counter the spin and find the truth. Are people no longer interested in paying for news or are people not interested in paying for what they consider just another opinion? Is the lack of trust in journalism the true cause of journalism’s decline as much as their inability to adjust to different viewing patterns?
“We produce a magazine all week...the emphasis has been on print. It’s probably time to flip that.” Mr. Meacham has seen the light. Unfortunately he has seen it a few years too late and his fine magazine will soon be a memory. One wonders if Newsweek hasn’t heard of comScore. Survey after survey has pointed to this trend for several years.
“Are we ready to get what we pay for?” say Meacham. “And if you’re not willing to pay you are going to get a different kind of news.” But is that not already another problem? Gulf War II, journalism let us down. The financial crash was an opportunity for business news to be journalist, and they failed. Fox has been allowed to call itself “news” without the journalistic community crying foul. Instead, many have joined the bandwagon of opinion and agenda disguised at journalism.
Newspapers started as highly opinionated slander rags. Over time, true journalism was born and prospered. Society benefited with having a proxy to represent them, to ask the questions they can’t. To counter the spin and find the truth. Are people no longer interested in paying for news or are people not interested in paying for what they consider just another opinion? Is the lack of trust in journalism the true cause of journalism’s decline as much as their inability to adjust to different viewing patterns?
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