On Newsweek’s going out of print
I suspect many of you could imagine this morning’s news that Newsweek plans to end its print edition after 80 years hitting close to home for a dead-trees journalist like myself. It doesn’t, and here’s why.
I graduated from college in 2001. Although that was right when a lot of print media outlets were making Internet-related mistakes, I was under no illusions that hard-copy newspapers would be around for my entire career. Two more decades of papers hitting driveways seemed about right to me.
About a decade later, I’m not yet prepared to give printed media no more than 10 years to live. But a couple of things have become clear:
1. Digital is not a death sentence: On the contrary, the era of online journalism has seen a proliferation of media outlets. Some are better than others, some have lasted longer than others. Which leads me to …
2. Quality, not the medium, is what matters: Good, relevant, unique content will attract readers whether it’s delivered in print or online. We may still be at a stage where the transition of a longstanding print outlet to online-only says something about whether that publication was producing good, relevant, unique content. (I can’t really offer an opinion about how Newsweek was doing on that front, other than to say I haven’t picked up a copy in a long time …) But at some point — probably not too far in the future — such a change won’t signal desperation.
Media outlets that don’t produce that kind of content won’t save themselves for long in any medium. That will mean the death of some one-time household names (Newsweek?), even as some new players become mainstays (Slate, Politico). That’s capitalism, or at least how it’s supposed to work.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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172 comments Add your comment
Hillbilly D
October 18th, 2012
5:12 pm
As long as the doctor’s office has copies of “Smithsonian”, I’m cool.
getalife
October 18th, 2012
5:19 pm
After all the lies and bad behavior from the right there is zero trust in media and government.
Congrats cons.
Halftrack
October 18th, 2012
5:27 pm
News media is just like music. If you get confined to one kind of category you lose readers. Example: Liberace was an expert concert pianist but his show on TV was about music the common Joe or Jane enjoyed.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
5:30 pm
Getalife, Finn, and especially AmVet
I hate to go off topic, but you three get all wet down below, looking at the projected Electoral Map and salivate about how, the Electoral Map still favors Barry. It has always been fluid, but you three always love to point out how there in no way, electorally speaking that Romney has a chance.
Well guess what, they changed it. Please enjoy! As the conservatives have said all along, polls and projections change too frequently to get as excited as you guys get.
Karma:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map.html
hsn
October 18th, 2012
5:32 pm
Kyle,
Your rightwing nutcase friend, Dinesh D’zousa, the phony Christian who published lies about the prez has been fired by King’s College for cheating on his wife. Oh, he was also the “director” and “main character” in the “2016″ so-called “movie.”
So much for family values…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/dinesh-dsouza-resigns-kings-college_n_1980614.html
markie mark
October 18th, 2012
5:53 pm
have any of you guys on the left noticed that to survive, that papers or magazines seem to have moved to the right? You may not like Fox, but it is the only channel with any growth, while the others have dwindled…..perhaps, JUST PERHAPS, Newsweek may have survived with a change of view….or at least made an attempt not to just be a shill for the left…
cc
October 18th, 2012
6:36 pm
Rafe, thanks for the link to the map. I hadn’t seen it and took great delight in it!
mike
October 18th, 2012
6:40 pm
Uh oh! New polls show Obama opening up new leads in Ohio and Iowa. Elizabeth Warren is pulling away from Scott Brown in Mass. Looks like Mitt’s “bounce” was fleeting.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
6:41 pm
markie mark
Regarding your question about moving to the right, wonder how the Weekly Standard is doing financially? Surface observations seem to indicate they are doing well, but I’m not sure how you research their readership.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
6:43 pm
mike
You declared the race over in Sept, what are you worried about?
mike
October 18th, 2012
6:50 pm
I enjoy how the right casts this issue (Newsweek’s shuttering their print edition) as some sort of political mandate. One needs only to looks at the Yellow Pages for a real world analogy. Most people don’t even use the Yellow Pages any more. If they want to buy something the go online.
Bruno
October 18th, 2012
6:53 pm
For an interesting read, I recommend that you guys check out The Philadelphia Trumpet sometime. Here is a link to their online version.
http://www.thetrumpet.com/
mike
October 18th, 2012
6:54 pm
Rafe: it’s still over.
Will someone — anyone — on the right please explain Mitt’s tax plan to me. What’s that? You don’t know? OK, then, how about his “replacement” for the Affordable Care Act? Still don’t know? Tell me: what do you know about Mitt except that he’s the un-Obama? How many wars have we started in the last 4 years? How many financial collapses have we had in the last 4 years? Just step right up and sing it out, I’m waiting.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
7:03 pm
“Will someone — anyone — on the right please explain Mitt’s tax plan to me.”
Apparently you are a bit slow, mike.
His plan is to lower the rates for everyone, offsetting the cost of those lower rates with eliminating many deductions that the wealthy (and businesses) currently enjoy.
Why is that so difficult for you to comprehend?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
7:04 pm
“what do you know about Mitt except that he’s the un-Obama?”
Lots.
What would you like to know, mike?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
7:06 pm
“How many wars have we started in the last 4 years?”
None. It has taken your Messiah this long to end one.
“How many financial collapses have we had in the last 4 years?”
None. However, we’ve also not created a single net job in the last 4 years, either.
Your point, mike?
mike
October 18th, 2012
7:07 pm
OK, Tiberius, I’ll bite. What deductions will Romney eliminate? And, for whom? Please be specific. Also, please explain in specifics what the new rates will be.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
7:11 pm
“What deductions will Romney eliminate? And, for whom? Please be specific.”
OK. Ask Congress when they get into session next year, because unlike Obama, Mitt Romney actually HAS worked successfully with the Legislative branch of government to get things done. Mitt Romney doesn’t dictate unsuccessfully; he accomplishes.
“Also, please explain in specifics what the new rates will be.”
I believe he has stated a 20% reduction in the rates. Your point?
cc
October 18th, 2012
7:14 pm
mike:
You simply don’t ‘get it’. To the mass of voters it simply doesn’t matter WHAT Romney’s tax plan, is or what the replacement for ObamaCare is. What the voters know is that the recession is NOT over, the deficits far exceed $1 trillion annually, the national debt has been increased by $6 trillion, there are more people living below the poverty level, food stamp recipients have been increased by 17 million, welfare now accounts for the largest single government expenditure, our enemies neither fear nor respect us, our allies no longer trust us, our president is an object of scorn and ridicule internationally, the president and his administration lies to us, our Attorney General selectively enforces laws, the president usurps congressional authority and ignores the Constitution via executive orders and he is a TOTAL FAILURE. We tried his “change”, and now we NEED a change.
Other than the few things I’ve mentioned, Obama’s doing a great job!
mike
October 18th, 2012
7:15 pm
“OK. Ask Congress when they get into session next year, because unlike Obama, Mitt Romney actually HAS worked successfully with the Legislative branch of government to get things done. Mitt Romney doesn’t dictate unsuccessfully; he accomplishes.”
Short version: I don’t know. Just like the rest of the American people don’t know.
“I believe he has stated a 20% reduction in the rates.”
Again: I don’t know. I just know he’s not Obama.
cc
October 18th, 2012
7:20 pm
Replacing an abject failure with an unknown quantity would be preferable to the majority of voters.
mike
October 18th, 2012
7:20 pm
Questions like those I have raised and the lack of any coherent answers thereto accentuate the fact that you on the right have allowed yourselves to be brainwashed and mass-indoctrinated by the right wing media to support a candidate whose only interest is in the tiny minority — the 1/10th of 1% — who surreptitiously rule this country.
Conservative Republican
October 18th, 2012
7:22 pm
Kyle,
Figure out how much the AJC makes on its online subscriptions and divide that by the number of reporters you have there.
Think you can live on that?
mike
October 18th, 2012
7:25 pm
“welfare now accounts for the largest single government expenditure”
This is a lie. Please post a link to back this statement up.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
7:25 pm
mike, at some point you’re going to have to go back to English 101 to learn the language of success in this nation.
I don’t NEED to know which ones; only that most of them will be on the table, and that they will be revenue-neutral. I also don’t need to know which ones, because I know Mitt Romney (and obviously you don’t). I KNOW he’ll actually work to get this economy moving again, and he won’t dictate to Congress that which he cannot do. Why? Because he knows how to get things done, because he’s done it all his life.
And I stated a very specific figure of the reduced rate. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
7:25 pm
Mike
What is Obama’s plan for a second term. What legislation does he have planned. What has he said about how he is now going to work with the GOP House. What plan does he have for closing the deficit? Raising taxes on the wealthy raises 80B per year, that leaves a deficit of 1.3T, how is he going to make this up? What is he going to do with immigration?
Most importantly, how soon after 6 Nov will the girls start looking for a new school in Chicago?
cc
October 18th, 2012
7:25 pm
Conservative Republican, I imagine they generate revenue from advertisers, too.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
7:27 pm
“Questions like those I have raised . . . .”
Are merely talking points for unintelligent people who can’t fathom that someone might actually know how to get us out of this mess, and it isn’t the incumbent.
cc
October 18th, 2012
7:29 pm
mike, NEVER call me a liar again, you simple minded twit. You can Google, can’t you? Multiple links, but here is one, you twit:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/government/2012/10/18/trillion-dollar-cost-welfare/
mike
October 18th, 2012
7:30 pm
If you don’t have any answers, insult and obfuscate.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
7:34 pm
“If you don’t have any answers, insult and obfuscate.”
Oh, you mean like calling people “brainwashed” and “mass-indoctrinated”?
Just because you don’t like the answers, mike, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
7:35 pm
Mike
So, you are supporting a guy who has accomplished little, lied, deceived, and tried to delude his supporters into believing that he accomplished things he did not and blamed others for his failureS, and has no plans for a second term other than stay the course and Hope things get better.
As Clinton said today, things are not “fixed” and he understood that question, from the guy at the debate, who said he previously supported Obama but had been disappointed..
cc
October 18th, 2012
7:37 pm
“insult and obfuscate”
Yes, that’s you, mike. If you choose not to believe someone, say that it is a lie inferring that the person making the comment is a liar. I won’t wait for your apology because I frankly doubt that you’re enough of a man to offer one.
Are you familiar with the phrase persona non grata, mike?
As far as I am concerned, that’s you . . .
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
7:42 pm
cc
Facts are such an inconvenient nuisance at times, it seems. The whole Obama fairy tale depends on having the admirers and sycophants stay on message.
mike
October 18th, 2012
7:43 pm
“If you total up the direct and non-direct spending categories which are all the programs that are meant to help the poor, you will see that the federal government only spent 191$ billion on “welfare” for the poor. That would be 5.5% of the unified budget. I counted off-budget programs since the pie graphs in the beginning counted social security and other “off-budget” accounts. If you only want to go with on-budget expenditures it’s 6.4%, still a far cry from the 12% that most internet graphs will show you. Just for fun I decided to graph those numbers. Feel free to copy these graphs to show anyone who thinks we actually spend 12% of the federal budget helping the poor.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/07/20/885549/-How-much-do-we-REALLY-spend-on-Welfare
How can these numbers be so different?
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
7:44 pm
Eye Candy don’t need no stinking facts, we make it up as it needs to be!
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
7:46 pm
Clue for Mike
Jul 2010 vs Oct 2012
Every entitlement program has grown under the Mistake.
iggy
October 18th, 2012
7:50 pm
Newsweek…good bye and good riddance. Lets just hope the same doesnt happen to Chubby Chasers.
mike
October 18th, 2012
7:50 pm
“Every entitlement program has grown under the Mistake.”
Well I guess he was just unlucky. What he inherited was nothing like what his predecessor inherited from Bill Clinton.
By the way, what did George W. (what was his last name?) do with what he inherited from his predecessor?
What did he do with that $250,000,000,000.00 budget surplus he inherited?
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
7:53 pm
Welfare spending has grown substantially over the past four years, reaching $746 billion in 2011 — or more than Social Security, basic defense spending or any other single chunk of the federal government — according to a new memo by the Congressional Research Service. [Full Story]
Read more on Newsmax.com: News & Current Events, Breaking News, Analysis, Political Commentary – Newsmax.com
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama’s Re-Election? Vote Here Now!
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
8:00 pm
Mike, GWB also inherited a recession from Clinton, Mar 2001-Nov 2001, only 8 months, but he wasn’t Obama, he used American solutions, and quickly got it turned around.
When you add the Soc Sec IOU’s to Clinton’s budget, he left a deficit as well. He had a smoke and mirrors surplus.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
8:00 pm
From the link you apparently won’t read, mike:
“The Senate Budget Committee is out with a new report today that shows there are 83 overlapping government welfare programs that together represent $1.03 trillion in fiscal 2011 spending by federal and state governments, based on data from the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The report says “total means-tested welfare spending is currently the single-largest category of spending in the federal budget.”
Now, are we going to believe a two year-old blog post by someone named “maddog” on the dailykos, or are we going to believe an article written today using actual government statistics by Elizabeth MacDonald, an award-winning business journalist who used to work for Forbes and the Wall Street Journal?
cc
October 18th, 2012
8:00 pm
“That means that welfare costs in this country have reached a point where they account for more than the sums the nation spends on Social Security, Medicare, or national defense — the amounts spent on welfare equal the budget for defense and Medicare combined.”
“The staff report notes that “the federal share of spending on these federal programs is up 32% since 2008, and now comprises 21% of federal outlays.” That compares to 4% under the Administration of John F. Kennedy.”
“Moreover, the Senate staffers found this growth is by design. “Existing federal policy has explicitly encouraged growth in welfare enrollment — combined with a weakening of welfare standards and rules,” says the report.”
mike
October 18th, 2012
8:01 pm
Well, it’s obvious you right wingers smell blood and think you’ve found some real “red meat.” Unfortunately, you’re wrong.
https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=p3&chs=600×200&chf=bg,s,e8e8ff&chd=t:22,23,3,25,12,2,3,1,4,6&chl=Pensions%2022%|Health%20Care%2023%|Education%203%|Defense%2025%|Welfare%2012%|Protection%202%|Transportation%203%|General%20Government%201%|Other%20Spending%204%|Interest%206%&chtt=Budgeted%20Federal%20Spending%20for%20%20-%20FY%202012
Please, for those of you who can “cipher” multiply 12% times our federal budget of $300+ trillion and let me know what you come up with.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
8:02 pm
“What did he do with that $250,000,000,000.00 budget surplus he inherited?”
Technically, he never had one. That was just smoke and mirrors accounting by Clinton and the GOP Congress at that time to make themselves look good.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
8:02 pm
So, Clinton left us a $250T surplus, don’t think so, where did all that money go? Even Obama would have trouble spending all that money.
mike
October 18th, 2012
8:03 pm
OK, that link was a little too long. Try this one.
http://www.usfederalbudget.us/welfare_budget_2012_4.html
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
8:04 pm
Disregard the T, my old eyes added some zeros that were not there Mike.
@@
October 18th, 2012
8:04 pm
What did he do with that $250,000,000,000.00 budget surplus he inherited
There was no surplus.
The government can have a surplus even if it has trillions in debt, but it cannot have a surplus if that debt increased every year.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
October 18th, 2012
8:05 pm
If Clinton “left a surplus”, why did the national debt go up each and every year of his regime?
Because he spent the Social Security and Medicare surpluses instead of saving them for future retirees.
The Clinton Surplus: A big lie.