Newsweek is an
American weekly
newsmagazine 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.
Recently, the magazine's owner
The Washington Post Company has stated the publication has been losing profit. The company overhauled the magazine in May, 2009, refocusing its content and using higher-quality paper, to target a smaller and more "elite audience" and to identify itself as a "thought leader". To sustain its level of journalism with a reduced guaranteed circulation,
Newsweek plans to eventually increase prices.
History
thumb|175px|Cover of the first issue of News-Week magazine.Newsweek magazine was launched in 1933 (but really went into effect in 1935) 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."
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.
thumb|left|175px|Cover of the January 16, 1939 Newsweek featuring Felix Frankfurter.
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.
The magazine was purchased by
the Washington Post Company in 1961.
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.
Richard M. Smith has served as Chairman since 1998.
Circulation and branches
As of 2003, worldwide circulation is more than 4 million, including 2.7 million in the U.S (see below for recent changes in circulation base). 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.
There is also a radio program,
Newsweek on Air, jointly produced by Newsweek and the Jones Radio Network (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).
Highlights and controversies
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), even though both Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen.
Richard B. Myers and Afghan President
Hamid Karzai stated they did not think the article was related to the rioting. 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.
Best High Schools in America
Since 1998,
Newsweek has periodically published a "Best High Schools in America" list, 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.
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. 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.
2008-2009 Repositioning
During 2008-2009
Newsweek undertook a dramatic restructuring of its business. 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 (down 500,000), then to 1.9 million in July 2009 (down 700,000) and will shrink to 1.5 million in January 2010 (down 400K); for a decline of 50% in one year. 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.
Contributors and reporters
Notable regular contributors to
Newsweek include:
- Michael Isikoff is perhaps the magazine's most famous investigative reporter.
Cultural references
See Also
Notes and references
