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
mike
October 18th, 2012
8:06 pm
“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.”
But George W. (what was his name again?) wouldn’t. Try 2 enormous tax cuts for the richest Americans. Try 2 unfunded wars. Try a ridiculous Medicare Part D big pharma giveaway. Try blowing out the economy causing tax revenues to fall off the cliff. Any questions?
cc
October 18th, 2012
8:11 pm
Rafe, your 7:42 is absolutely accurate. Obama has been dependent on the people willing to be misled, who continue to buy into his lies and refuse to accept facts which do not support their cause. It is truly a sad state of affairs, but not unpredictable.
blah blah blah
October 18th, 2012
8:13 pm
“only 8 months, but he wasn’t Obama, he used American solutions, and quickly got it turned around. ”
Actually interest rates that were kept low played as big a part as anything. If it were not so, why did the economy tank when the housing bubble burst?
Not blaming Bush, Republicans, Democrats, etc. However I am saying that Bush was the recipient of the housing bubble as Clinton was the internet bubble. The vast majority of supporters on either-side wish to acknowledge these facts. It is alright because it doesn’t change anything just because people wish to bark at the other side and say how right they are and how wrong the other side is……..
If it wasn’t for these bubbles, we would have been in trouble for sometime now. Problem is that when the bubble bursts it causes as much or more negative impact as the positive impact that was incurred on the way up.
blah, blah, blah
blah blah blah
October 18th, 2012
8:15 pm
Lil Barry
That is so true. You might also want to mention that to the Newt supporters. He runs around bragging about it and taking credit as much as Bill Clinton does
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
8:15 pm
The wars did not cost as much as you think. Libs always trot out the wars. I haven’t looked them up lately but it was on/about 1T under Bush, about what we spent on the Stimulus. As far as the Medicare Part D, Obama doubled down on it and closed the donut hole, increasing its cost greatly. Most of the tax cuts went to the middle class and you can imagine what trouble we would be in today, if they were paying $3500 more in taxes for the last ten years. Obama approves of the tax cuts for the middle class, so if you want them repealed better find another candidate.
Obama’s campaign is down to talking about binders and big bird, hopeless.
mike
October 18th, 2012
8:16 pm
It’s just ridiculous. Your on the right’s entire argument boils down to one premise. Obama has not been able to fix the mess left to him by George W. (what was his name again?) fast enough. Your saviour Mitt Romney will come in a completely change the way Republicans have done things for decades and miraculously cut your taxes and revive the economy. And, how is he going to do all this? Don’t ask me because he won’t tell us until after the election. I’m in. How about you?
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
8:19 pm
Blah3
I generally agree with what you said. Clinton got a tremendous boost from the dot com and I hadn’t thought about it but housing was booming under Bush. Now we have “poverty boom” that is not helping anyone.
blah blah blah
October 18th, 2012
8:20 pm
Rafe
That war in Iraq sure cost more than the 50B number that Wolfowitz trotted out, along with the Iraqi oil revenue would pay for most of it, right?
And the majority in both parties kept on spending and spending
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
8:21 pm
“But George W. (what was his name again?) wouldn’t.”
mike, for the life of me, I can’t find anyone on my ballot with the name George W. Bush.
Seems to me you’re arguing about the past, not the future.
Just like Obama.
blah blah blah
October 18th, 2012
8:21 pm
Rafe
Agreed. I am again not thrilled with my choices.
But we will see how it goes. Romney closing the gap and leading in some polls, can he close the deal?
We will know in a few weeks.
Later
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 18th, 2012
8:21 pm
Obama couldn’t fix the mess caused by Sasha, he would have to call Michelle in to do it, and she would be smart enough to get help from the staff.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
8:23 pm
“Your saviour Mitt Romney will come in a completely change the way Republicans have done things for decades”
Yes. Because he’s successful at virtually everything else he’s tried.
“and miraculously cut your taxes and revive the economy.”
No, he actually has a plan. Cutting tax RATES is not cutting taxes. And reviving the economy takes more than just a sound bite.
mike
October 18th, 2012
8:23 pm
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/much-wars-cost-report-says-4-trillion-130934180.html
“The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, has assessed the federal price tag for the wars at $1.8 trillion through 2021. The report says that is a gross underestimate, predicting that the government has already paid $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion.”
What did WE get?
blah blah blah
October 18th, 2012
8:28 pm
Tiberius
Did you vote for Perot? Serious question, not being smart behind.
mike
October 18th, 2012
8:30 pm
Tiberius: please post an outline of Mitt Romney and the Republican’s tax plan. I would be delighted to review it. Take your time. I’ll check back in tomorrow morning. That should give you plenty of time to find it. Otherwise, good night.
iggy
October 18th, 2012
8:31 pm
The clinton surplus was also at the expense of gutting the military, cia, etc…
Hillbilly D
October 18th, 2012
8:35 pm
Only one President ever paid off the national debt and that was a long time ago.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
8:35 pm
“Did you vote for Perot? Serious question, not being smart behind.”
I believe I did. I can’t remember.
But then, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast on any given day, either.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
8:36 pm
“Tiberius: please post an outline of Mitt Romney and the Republican’s tax plan.”
Already did. I try not to repeat myself in the same conversation, mike.
Hillbilly D
October 18th, 2012
8:53 pm
I can’t remember what I had for breakfast on any given day, either.
Do like I do; eat the same thing everyday. Problem solved.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 18th, 2012
9:01 pm
Matz
October 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
“Clinton left us a $250T surplus…”
AND, he kept his binders full of women shut and discreetly tucked away! You know, until those PERVO Repugs in Congress demanded details and trotted them out all over the how-er media. Sheesh.
Dusty
October 18th, 2012
9:42 pm
Hey, I know what I had for breakfast (she said with pride!)… Cornflakes and bananas. When the bananas are gone, we have oatmeal and apples cooked together.
I suggest Mike try my diet since he can’t even remember the president who brought us back from 9/11. Yeah, George W. Bush. And Mike already seems to forget debt in the trillions raised by Obama. Yeah, I know. It was either Bush, Reagan or the tooth fairy.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
October 18th, 2012
9:47 pm
mike: 2 enormous tax cuts for the richest Americans.
——————
Tax revenue went UP after Our President Bush cut tax rates for all tax payers. Unemployment went down. Growth went up.
Don’t fear facts.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
October 18th, 2012
9:50 pm
Oh, and the tax burden shifted more to the highest earners after Our President Bush’s tax cuts.
Dusty
October 18th, 2012
9:53 pm
:Lil Barry,
Your memory is good. I think you are eating right.
cc
October 18th, 2012
10:00 pm
Dusty, let’s not forget that the meltdown was caused by Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd’s Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and that despite repeated attempts by President Bush to have the impending crisis dealt with by Congress, they and their cohorts played an obstructionist role. The leftists seem to forget this little fact and they must be reminded.
cc
October 18th, 2012
10:04 pm
Well, it has been a day, and now it is night! Good evening to all. It’s time to visit my pillow . . .
Dusty
October 18th, 2012
10:16 pm
Good night, cc
Pleasant dreams. I’m leaving too. ..
Steve From Dalton
October 19th, 2012
3:00 am
I wish we could still get the AJC print edition in Dalton. I always enjoyed eatting breakfast and reading the AJC. Unlike a tablet, It was not a big deal to get Jelly on the AJC.
lex
October 19th, 2012
4:23 am
Mike @ 8:01 p.m.
Speaking of “ciphering,” it’s easier if we start out with correct figures: Our federal budget is not 300+ TRILLION dollars–yet.
Our deficit under the chosen one has reached over 100% of GDP (which is about 15 trillion), http://useconomy.about.com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/US_Debt.htm,
and, as cited above, means tested welfare spending now exceeds one trillion dollars per year. Now that’s growing an economy, socialist style.
Last, Clinton was the beneficiary of the economic boom created by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, and, his spending was constrained by a republican congress, swept into office after he and his wife sought to socialize medicine for us fortunate souls in the 1990’s. Back then, a few people still had sense.
ragnar danneskjold
October 19th, 2012
6:43 am
I remember back when Time was the conservative magazine, Newsweek the preferred organ of leftist, and US News was middle of the road. All now in decay, and all with leftist orientation. Nevertheless, I cannot affirm the ideology is causation, as Kyle correctly cites Politico as a thriving online leftist site.
Why does the print WSJ thrive in a world where all of the leftist newspapers are in sharp decline? Maybe they have identified the last holdouts who want to hold a newspaper, my conservatives. Yet WSJ is also the largest subscription news source today.
ragnar danneskjold
October 19th, 2012
6:44 am
errata, omitted “online” in my last sentence @ 6:43
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
October 19th, 2012
6:59 am
Btw, Romney slayed them at the Al Smith dinner last night. Not only is he more accomplished than Obama, he’s funnier!
Absolute perfect comedic timing.
alex
October 19th, 2012
7:37 am
growing up in the 60’s and 70’s there were 3 popular weeklies:
1> U.S. news and world report: objective, literate
2>Time.Fun, interesting, more entertaining
3>newsweek,bird cage material;should have died lond ago, many trees destroyed, need congressional hearing……
JDW
October 19th, 2012
8:18 am
@Tom…”Not nice my man, you forget Fox News is #1 in ratings past 12 years! ”
If you say so…however, the web traffic numbers I reported are not subjective.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
October 19th, 2012
8:19 am
Can you imagine if Obama had a black son and he had said something like this ?
Tagg Romney was asked how it felt when he heard “the president of the United States call your dad a liar.”
“Jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the stage and take a swing at him,” Tagg answered
The outrage from the right would have been enormous.
Kyle, Fox News, Drudge. This would have been a huge story.
But because its the other way around its really not a big deal.
Very interesting isn’t it.
JDW
October 19th, 2012
8:22 am
@Tiberius…”Why is that so difficult for you to comprehend?”
Because there aren’t enough deductions that he has not “protected” to offset the cost. Its just math. Mittens plan is the same as Reagan’s and Duhbya’s…both led to deficit EXPLOSIONS and MItt’s will too.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
October 19th, 2012
8:24 am
@Tom…”Not nice my man, you forget Fox News is #1 in ratings past 12 years! ”
They are. But if you add MSNBC and CNN together they beat Fox.
JKL2
October 19th, 2012
8:32 am
Kyle- 2. Quality, not the medium, is what matters
Marshall McLuhan is my hero.
Can we have a stylebook party?
JKL2
October 19th, 2012
8:41 am
Tiberius- Seems to me you’re arguing about the past, not the future.
Just like Obama.
Bingo! obama is still running the same as he did when he was candidate obama, not as the president. It’s like the last four years didn’t mean anything to him. Instead of pointing to all the great things he’s done, all obama can do is try to character assassinate Romney.
Vote obama: You were dumb enough to fall for it last time!
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 19th, 2012
9:01 am
“But if you add MSNBC and CNN together they beat Fox.”
Not if you do that in the real world.
Fox dusts them both – together.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 19th, 2012
9:04 am
“Because there aren’t enough deductions that he has not “protected” to offset the cost. Its just math. Mittens plan is the same as Reagan’s and Duhbya’s…both led to deficit EXPLOSIONS and MItt’s will too.”
JDW, you forget that neither Bush nor Reagan are on the ballot. This is a whole new cat running, and neither you nor your fellow myrmidons are bothering to listen to what he says.
Fortunately, it appears that the majority of the country is wising up, and not listening to how you libs paint Romney, but what he’s saying as well. It’s nice to see an electorate becoming informed, rather than wallowing in spoon-fed ignorance as Obama has done for 4 years.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 19th, 2012
9:10 am
“The outrage from the right would have been enormous.
Kyle, Fox News, Drudge. This would have been a huge story.”
Actually, Cheesy, this wouldn’t have been a big thing for conservatives, because we don’t fixate on the silly.
That’s the purview of the left.
Which is why you’re so outraged about it.
See, for normal people, when someone lies about their father, they get upset. Maybe it’s because many libs probably don’t even know who their fathers are that you can’t understand this concept; I don’t know.
But in the normal world, we get upset when people lie about Dad.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
October 19th, 2012
9:16 am
Thanks to Billy Graham for removing “cult status” from the Mormon church and getting “cult” and “mormon” onto the front page of every newspaper in America!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
October 19th, 2012
9:18 am
Fox dusts them both – together.
And how does Fox News stand up to the ratings for ABC, NBC, and CBS for news?
cc
October 19th, 2012
9:25 am
“And how does Fox News stand up to the ratings for ABC, NBC, and CBS for news?”
Depends on what you call “news”. ABC, NBC and CBS “news’ is nothing more than the ‘Reelect Obama Committee’.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 19th, 2012
9:53 am
“And how does Fox News stand up to the ratings for ABC, NBC, and CBS for news?”
Doesn’t matter, Finn. That wasn’t the issue.
Nice attempt at deflection, however.
MC
October 19th, 2012
10:12 am
Sarah Palin/Glen Rice anyone?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 19th, 2012
10:15 am
Uh, MC?
Exactly where did THAT come from?