Newsweek

Newsweek

Newsweek, May 24, 2009 First issue in current format
Editor	Jon Meacham (US edition) Fareed Zakaria (International edition)
Categories	Newsmagazine
Frequency	Weekly
Circulation	1,972,219 (2009)
Publisher	Sidney Harman (as of August 2010)
First issue	February 17, 1933
Country	United States
Language	English
Website	www.newsweek.com
ISSN	0028-9604

Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence. Newsweek is published in four English language editions and 12 global editions written in the language of the circulation region.

Since 2008, Newsweek has undergone a series of internal and external changes designed to shift the magazine's focus and audience while also shoring up the title's finances. Instead, losses at the newsweekly accelerated: revenue dropped 38 percent from 2007 to 2009. The freefall in revenues prompted an August 2010 sale by Newsweek owner Washington Post Company to 92 year-old audio pioneer Sidney Harman – reportedly for $1 and an assumption of the magazine's liabilities by purchaser Harman.^{[1] [2]} Editor Jon Meacham announced he would depart from the magazine upon completion of the sale. ^[2]

Circulation and branches

As of 2003, worldwide circulation was more than 4 million, including 2.7 million in the U.S, however as of 2010 it is down to 1.5 million. It also publishes editions in Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Rioplatense Spanish, Arabic, and Turkish, as well as an English language Newsweek International. The Bulletin (an Australian weekly until 2008) incorporated an international news section from Newsweek. Also Cielos Argentinos, an Aerolíneas Argentinas magazine, incorporates material from Newsweek.

A companion radio program Newsweek On-Air is jointly produced by Newsweek and the Jones Radio Networks (previously with the Associated Press).

Based in New York City, it has 22 bureaus: 9 in the U.S. in New York City, Los Angeles, the Midwest (Chicago and Detroit), Dallas, Miami, Washington, D.C., Boston and San Francisco, as well as overseas in London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, South Asia, Cape Town, Mexico City and Buenos Aires (Newsweek Argentina).

History

Cover of the first issue of News-Week magazine.

Founding and early years

Newsweek magazine was launched in 1933 by a group of U.S. stockholders "which included Ward Cheney, of the Cheney silk family, John Hay Whitney, and Paul Mellon, son of Andrew W. Mellon," according to America's 60 Families by Ferdinand Lundberg. The same book also noted in 1946 that "Paul Mellon's ownership in "Newsweek" apparently represented "the first attempt of the Mellon family to function journalistically on a national scale."

January 16, 1939 cover featuring Felix Frankfurter.

To launch Newsweek the group of original owners invested around $2.5 million. Other large Newsweek stockholders prior to 1946 were a public utilities investment banker named Stanley Childs and a Wall Street corporate lawyer and director of various corporations named Wilton Lloyd-Smith.

Originally News-Week, the magazine was founded by Thomas J.C. Martyn on February 17, 1933. That issue featured seven photographs from the week's news on the cover.^[3]

In 1937, Newsweek merged with the weekly journal Today, which had been founded in 1932 by future New York Governor and diplomat W. Averell Harriman, and Vincent Astor of the prominent Astor family. As a result of the 1937 Newsweek-Today merger deal, Harriman and Astor provided Newsweek with $600,000 in additional venture capital funds and Vincent Astor became both Newsweek's chairman of the board and its principal stockholder between 1937 and his death in 1959.

In 1937, Malcolm Muir took over as president and editor-in-chief. Muir changed the name to Newsweek, emphasized more interpretative stories, introduced signed columns, and international editions. Over time it has developed a full spectrum of news-magazine material, from breaking stories and analysis to reviews and commentary.

Under Post ownership

The magazine was purchased by the Washington Post Company in 1961.^[4]

Richard M. Smith has served as Chairman since 1998, the year that the magazine inaugurated their "Best High Schools in America" list,^[5] a ranking of public secondary schools based on the Challenge Index, which measures the ratio of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams taken by students to the number of graduating students that year, regardless of the scores earned by students or the difficulty in graduating. Schools with average SAT scores above 1300 or average ACT scores above 27 are excluded from the list; these are categorized instead as "Public Elite" High Schools. In 2008, there were 17 Public Elites.^[6]

Restructuring and new owner

During 2008–2009 Newsweek undertook a dramatic restructuring of its business.^[7][8] Citing difficulties in competing with online news sources to provide unique news in a weekly publication, the magazine repositioned its content towards opinion and commentary beginning with its May 24, 2009 issue. It shrank its subscriber rate base, from 3.1 million to 2.6 million in early 2008, to 1.9 million in July 2009 and then to 1.5 million in January 2010; for a decline of 50% in one year. Newsweek editor Meacham described his strategy as "counterintuitive" as it involved discouraging renewals and nearly doubling subscription prices as it seeks a more affluent base of subscribers to offer to advertisers.^[9]. During this period the magazine also laid off some of its staff. While advertising revenues are down almost 50% compared to the prior year, expenses are also diminishing in a planned strategy that the publishers hope will return Newsweek to profitability.^[10] The sale attracted international unidentified bidders. One bidder was Syrian entrepreneur Abdulsalam Haykal, CEO of Syria-based publishing company Haykal Media, who brought together a coalition of Middle Eastern investors with his company. Haykal later claimed his bid was ignored by Newsweek's bankers, Allen & Co. ^[11]

The financial results for 2009 as reported by the Washington Post showed that advertising revenue for Newsweek was down 37% in 2009 and the magazine division reported an operating loss for 2009 of $29.3 million compared to a loss of $16 million in 2008.^[12] During the magazine's first quarter of 2010, it lost nearly $11 million.^[13]

By May 2010, Newsweek was said to be up for sale.^[14] Jon Meacham, Newsweek's editor, said he was exploring other options in hopes of keeping Newsweek in publication. The magazine was sold to audio pioneer Sidney Harman for $1 on August 2, 2010.^[15][2] Harman's bid was accepted over three competitors'.^[16] Meacham announced that he would be departing Newsweek upon completion of the sale.

Highlights and controversies

Lewinsky scandal

Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff was the first reporter to get news of allegations regarding U.S. President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, but the story was declined by Newsweek editors.^[17] The story soon surfaced online in the Drudge Report.

Claims and counterclaims of bias

A 2004 study by Tim Groseclose and Jeff Milyo asserted that Newsweek, along with a number of other mainstream news outlets, exhibited a "liberal bias." Critics described the study as "riddled with flaws" and highlighted Groseclose and Milyo as former fellows at conservative think tanks.^[18][19]

Guantánamo Bay allegations

In the May 9, 2005, issue of Newsweek, an article by reporter Michael Isikoff stated that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay "in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet." Detainees had earlier made similar complaints but this was the first time a government source had appeared to confirm the story. The news was reported to be a cause of widespread rioting and massive anti-American protests throughout some parts of the Islamic world (causing at least 15 deaths in Afghanistan^[20]). The magazine later revealed that the anonymous source behind the allegation could not confirm that the book-flushing was actually under investigation, and retracted the story under heavy criticism.

Iraq war planning

Fareed Zakaria, a Newsweek columnist and editor of Newsweek International, attended a secret meeting on November 29, 2001 with a dozen policy makers, Middle East experts and members of influential policy research organizations to produce a report for President George W. Bush and his cabinet outlining a strategy for dealing with Afghanistan and the Middle East in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. The meeting was held at the request of Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense. The unusual presence of journalists, who also included Robert D. Kaplan of The Atlantic Monthly, at such a strategy meeting was revealed in Bob Woodward's 2006 book State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III. Woodward reported in his book that, according to Mr. Kaplan, everyone at the meeting signed confidentiality agreements not to discuss what happened. Mr. Zakaria told The New York Times that he attended the meeting for several hours but did not recall being told that a report for the President would be produced.^[21] On October 21, 2006, after verification, the Times published a correction that stated:

An article in Business Day on Oct. 9 about journalists who attended a secret meeting in November 2001 called by Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense, referred incorrectly to the participation of Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International and a Newsweek columnist. Mr. Zakaria was not told that the meeting would produce a report for the Bush administration, nor did his name appear on the report.

2008 elections

In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the John McCain campaign wrote a lengthy letter to the editor criticizing a cover story in May 2008.^[22]

Palin cover

Controversial Newsweek cover, November 23, 2009

Sarah Palin, the Los Angeles Times, and other commentators have accused Newsweek of sexism for their choice of cover in the November issue discussing Palin's book, Going Rogue: An American Life. "It's sexist as hell," wrote Lisa Richardson for the Los Angeles Times.^[23] Taylor Marsh of the Huffington Post called it "the worst case of pictorial sexism aimed at political character assassination ever done by a traditional media outlet."^[24] David Brody of CBN News stated: "This cover should be insulting to women politicians."^[25]

The cover includes a photo of Palin used in the August 2009 issue of Runner's World.^[26][27][28] The photographer may have breached his contract with Runner's World when he permitted its use in Newsweek, as Runner's World maintained certain rights to the photo until August 2010. It is uncertain, however, whether this particular use of the photo was prohibited.^[29]

Contributors and reporters

Notable regular contributors to Newsweek include:

Cultural references

• The 2000 film Harrison's Flowers is the story of a Newsweek photojournalist lost in the war-torn former Yugoslavia.

See also

• List of magazines by circulation
• Newsweek Argentina
• Newsweek Pakistan

Notes and references

External links

• Official website
• Newsweek Video
• The Washington Post Company
• History and Demographics of Newsweek

Other languages

• Wikipedia article for Polish edition
  • Newsweek Polska

Notes