A New Magazine for a Changing World

I had been a subscriber to TIME for over 25 years. However, that magazine's continuing leftward shift had begun to bother me. Then I discovered Fareed Zakaria and my conversion to NEWSWEEK was complete. Unfortunately, the new format takes the NEWS out of NEWSWEEK. The in-depth analysis of current newsworthy events is gone. And so is my subscription when it expires in February. Sad.

It's official. I WILL not be renewing my subscription after almost 20 years. You new format sucks. The fonts are nearly unreadable, and you have reduced what was once a great newsmagazine to essentially a gossip rag. What a disappointment....

I'd like to cast a vote and a hearty "thank you" in favor of the new format. I liked the old Newsweek, but the new Newsweek is better. I can't say I like the font, but the content has been consistently terrific. If this is what the Internet is forcing journalism to become, then all hail the Internet. Your articles are provocative, informative, and entertaining. They frequently direct my attention away from the "top stories of the day" toward deeper and less obvious subjects of equal or greater importance. Today's news I can get anywhere. This I can't.

My thanks to the Newsweek staff for taking a courageous step and producing a remarkable new magazine. Yeah, the old magazine was good too, and I sympathize with those who miss it. But the new magazine is wonderful. I've added another two years to my subscription.

"We know you know what the news is. We are not pretending to be your guide through the chaos of the Information Age. "

"Will we cover breaking news? Yes, we will, but with a rigorous standard in mind: Are we truly adding to the conversation? "


THANK YOU.

As a child I used to look forward to my father bringing home issues of Newsweek and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. When I grew up it was a no-brainer therfore for me to get my own subscription. Then came this new format which just doesn't cut it for me. Newsweek is not Vogue, all this glossiness takes away from the seriousness. It has not grown on me, I have chosen not to renew and I do not know why I am still receiving them in the mail. Please stop sending them to do me, I do not intend to pay for issues that I do not read and will ultimately end up in the trash.

I have subscribed to Newsweek for 28 years. I always enjoyed it emmensely and would look forward to the day each week when the magazine was 'waiting for me' in the mailbox. I was disappointed with the new format but decided to give it a chance. However, now months later, I find I have no enthusiasm to do more than flip through the pages; editions often go unread. I am very sorry to say I will not renew my subscription.....

Reckoning day has arrived. I received a renewal notice with a self-addressed envelope and immediately made some stickers to attach. I wonder how many times I have to send it back before they get the message:

"I will not consider renewal until the format becomes once again readable. I am astonished by the lack of judgment that instituted and implemented this change. I have eight unread issues in my bedside table that I have no interest in whatsoever. My many years of loyal readership have been rewarded with totally useless change for change sake. Please stop asking."

Reinvented Newsweek...
Is that like New coke?
The font is sometimes too light and sometimes too small - the colors too.
What's up with all that?
The photo layouts are distracting.
The Back Page is irrelevant.
The whole magazine leaves me wondering what happened during the week. I definitely don't feel informed.

Plus, does Jon Meacham have to be all over us so fast - can't we gt to know him first? He seems nice - let's see a bio.

Overall, It is hard to read.
I don't like it - at all.
ex-reader Wendy521@earthlink.net

I too am so unhappy with this new format. I will not renew my subscription. I voiced my opinion when it first changed and I still hate the new Newsweek. Nothing inspires me to want to read any of the so called articles. Even the Conventional Wisdom is unappealing. I will not renew my subscription and will try another news magazine. It is a total shame, my husband and I have been subscribers for at least 20 years.

I kept my subscription for 5-6 issues after the change, hoping it was an "experiment". I emailed their subscription group stating that I would cancel if format didn't return to normal. It didn't and I did. I was at dr. appt this week and picked up a recent copy - still an unreadable piece of garbage. What a shame; I had been a subscriber for 7 years. Does anyone have their subscription numbers? Before and after?

After many years as a subscriber I am seeking to terminate my subscription and get a refund. Whatever Meacham was smoking wasn't good for what used to be a great magazine. It is now UNREADABLE! What a shame.

It is almost like Pepsi paying some bozo to redesign their product packaging. Now I can no longer find what i am looking for easily so I switched to Coke. This is the same bozo that redesigned Tropicana's Orange Juice box and made it look generic. Needless to say Tropicana switched back after sales plummeted.

I have five Newsweeks in my drawer of which I have yet to open the cover. Only one year left on my subscription thank God.

Like many of you we have been longterm subscribers and we found the new format unsettling to say the least. Difficult to read, the font is irritating, and if seemed too much like commentary and not news reporting. We cancelled the remaining portion of our subscription and got a prompt refund for the undelivered issues. We are now Time subscribers and are quite satisfied.

I couldn't quite put my finger on why I hate the new format so much - I just do. Then I read carolecker's post and it pretty much says what I couldn't quite figure out. She is right - it looks like one long prescription drug advertisement and it's virtually impossible to find what you are looking for. I have about two years left on my subscription. I have been subscribing since I moved out of my parents house over 20 years ago as my parents were long time subscribers as well. If the format doesn't improve by then, no more Newsweek for me.

Newsweek's New Format

Occasionally the mailman would steal my weekly copy and I would call and get it replaced. He no longer steals it and I no longer care. Only 14 more months and this is no longer my problem.

Mr. Meacham will be known in the publishing world as the man who killed Newsweek.

Mr. Meacham--Have you noticed that only a handful of comments in four pages of posts seems to look favorably on the changes in Newsweek's fortmat? Those before me have pretty well articulated the reasons so many long, long, long time subscribers are leaving your magazine. My husband and I are well educated. We are willing to give changes a chance, but this one isn't working. It is difficult to find things. The print and color contrasts make things hard to read. Was that how you wanted to cut readership in half? Put my 20 plus year subscription in the "cancelled" pile with the others. I'm voting with my feet and with my pocketbook.

I've been a Newsweek reader for 20 years. I'm an educated professional in the sciences and I wonder who this new, smaller audience is? I have been saddened by the drastic changes because now Newsweek no longer provides the services for which I subscribed- weekly news reporting along with good journalistic research. I want to continue to support magazine journalism because I prefer that over online reading for my news. I just got my subscription renewal notice in the mail. I am torn; should I wait it out and see if the pendulum swings back closer to the center, or should I just say a tearful good bye to the magazine I loved and find another to read?

The new format, sadly, is stunningly awful. It's difficult to distinuish between ads and content, and the fonts are irritating and unreadable. I've subscribed for 30 years, to get a quick overview of both news and culture; I now go to the Herald Trib for that instead. It looks like Newsweek is now chasing the Economist, but that magazine is much better written, thoughtful, and readable. Newsweek should stick to what it does well. It's so sad to cancel after 30 years, but there's no reason to get it now. I wish you luck.