It’s all about magazines today. A New York Times piece asks the question: how far will magazines fall? And New York Magazine seriously considers responsive design.
Although The New York Times’ piece addresses newsmagazines generally, it deals almost entirely with Newsweek and how the iconic well known magazine has not been able to right itself even under the watchful eye of its star editor, Tina Brown, who attempted to marry her website, The Daily Beast, with the struggling Newsweek.
Success has eluded Tina Brown, even though it has been obvious that Newsweek, under her leadership, has taken bold steps, especially on the cover, where we have seen some rather wild treatments such as a photo of Barack Obama with the headline: First Gay President. But, as the piece suggests, perhaps Tina’s medicine for Newsweek has kept the mag from falling faster. While circulation is down about 9% for Newsweek, some of its competitors are experiencing a worse fate: People is down 18.6% and The New Yorker 17.4%.
I have asked my friend and colleague, Roger Black, , one of the world’s most prolific media designers (he redesigned Newsweek in one of its many visual reincarnations) about his views on Newsweek :
“The definition of a newsmagazine has morphed since Time was started 90 years ago. Originally it was a news round-up for people who didn’t get newspapers. Time had a rewrite desk with lots of talented Yalies turning out clever prose. As newspapers and then television did more comprehensive coverage, the newsmagazines felt they had to push toward analysis and features. “...http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/newsmagazines_and_survival_in_the_era_of_twitter
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