Think newspapers are being left behind by the Web? Consider the plight of newsmagazines. Their weekly publication schedules make them look like fossils next to the Web's 24/7 news and information. Where they once filled a role as weekly digests and analysts of the news, Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report now look like total anachronisms. And advertisers know it. Have you picked up a copy of a newsmagazine lately? (Probably in a doctor's office, right?) They're anemic.
U.S. News is the sickest of the three, and we may be watching its death throes, at least in print. It began skipping occasional weekly editions a couple years ago, went biweekly this summer, and now has announced that it will become a monthly. I think we can all guess what comes next.
However, in a strategy reminiscent of last week's announcement by the Christian Science Monitor, U.S. News says it's going to redouble it efforts to commit journalism online, beefing up its Web site, trying to break news online, experimenting with new Web news forms, etc. Arguably, this is something the magazine should have done years ago, and there's a big question whether the old dog can learn enough new tricks to thrive on the Web and survive.
To do this, U.S. News will need to find a way to establish its Web site as a major online news destination (right now, it's not, and truth be told, the current site is a jumble), get smart about things like search optimization, content syndication, blogging, aggregation and alternate distribution (RSS, e-mail, etc.), and come up with some specialized content to attract a crowd. Its various lists–most notably its college-rating database–may be the best chance it has to establish a unique online presence.
It's a tall order. U.S. News is already heading in the right direction, and by de-emphasizing print, the magazine is rightly turning its problem solving focus toward its online future (similar to what Marc Andreesen proposed recently). Still, online news is a crowded field, and U.S. News is playing from behind. I've got friends there, and I'm rooting for them to succeed. But they've got their work cut out for them. The concept of a newsmagazine, in print, is a dying format. Whether it can be reinvented online is a huge question.
"Where they once filled a role as weekly digests and analysts of the news, Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report now look like total anachronisms."
And yet The Week, which is a pure digest, is doing quite nicely. And not too many down-turned heads at the Economist.
Posted by: Adrian Monck | November 06, 2008 at 03:14 AM
I agree with the general point of view. I have to say that Time is doing the best of the three. Each week they have plenty of interesting articles and points of view I have not seen before. I am not sure if that is translating to success on the business side but it's a good editorial product. The Economist is the other exception. And they follow the same path Times seems to be taking -- interesting, unique content.
Posted by: Charles Barthold | November 06, 2008 at 07:53 AM