The Editor’s Desk

I've been an avid reader of your magazine since I was in high school (I'm now 23). I didn't have access to Newsweek while living abroad this past year, so now I'm trying to catch up on the past couple of issues. However, I find this new print format a bit difficult to read - there's a lot of white space on the pages, and the layout of the articles makes them look like advertisements. Most troubling to me is that the hard news stories have lost their impact because the the page designs look less serious, even spacey. I appreciate your work to keep the magazine looking clean and efficient, but I think this layout design still needs a bit of tweaking. Otherwise, I like articles and columns as much as ever.

I'll be perfectly honest- I wasn't entirely in love with the new design, although no one is ever really happy with change, so that's probably minor and I"ll get over it, as will most people. That being said, I've been reading Newsweek for about ten years maybe, and I do appreciate some of the content changes that you guys have implemented. I feel like the main stories go more in depth than they used to, which is a nice change. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the "Back Story" section- for example, this week is a buffalo, which is supposed to show who owns the US's debt, but for some reason leaves off the part that the US owns, and....I'm not sure how I'm supposed to turn a percentage of a buffalo's body part into something meaningful. That one was a slight miss. But I think it's great that you guys are being innovative, and I'm sure you're getting a lot of slack right now, so I just wanted to put my positive two-cents in.

Dear Mr. Meacham: I'm an extreme news hound. Each Saturday night I copy and paste news articles into text files. convert them into Text-To-Speech (TTS) mp3 files, and listen to them Sunday with an iPod and noise reduction earphones. I've always considered "Newsweek/WashingtonPost Interactive Company (including Slate) an equal with The New York Times. No More. Your renovation of Newsweek is a disaster. Michael Kinsley's New Republic article, Backward Runs 'Newsweek' masterly hits the mark. Of course we need this magazine to sum-up, rehash the news. Even news hounds can not read and digest the weeks news. Too bad. It was nice while it lasted. In its present form Newsweek is about as bad as Time Magazine. Which is pretty damn bad. It's time to subscribe to The New York Times - real cash for the real paper paper. We need to have one great source for the news. Goodbye and good luck with your new career, after Newsweek folds.
David Chasey
P.S. I've registered today just to say Good-Bye

The new print layout is really bad. . . . I wanted to like it, I really did. But I am sorry--- you really blew it there. The fonts, layout, large photos. . everything is just very distracting and hard to navigate. I am your target demograhic (34, married, liberal, high income family, live in SF) . . . .and I am so disappointed. Good luck with renewals. . . . I am afraid you will be losing a lot.

Your print redesign is terrible. Seriously. The font is hard to read, the articles seem jumbled and bunched together on some pages. Despite being a longtime subscriber, my wife and I dislike it so much that we have decided to switch to another newsmagazine. Your editor stated in his opening piece that no focus groups were used for the redesign, which we believe was a huge mistake as you would have found (we suspect) many other readers who feel the way we do and will not re-subscribe and instead try Time, US News, etc.

In addition, the Belief Watch section never should have been added as a weekly piece (maybe monthly if anything) and the Interview section at the end of the magazine (Nikki?) is beyond shameful for a magazine like Newsweek. Go back and read the past year and you'll see how ridiculous the questions are. Even the people being interviewed have replied and inquired 'What kind of interview is this!?" If I wanted an article like this then I'd subscribe to People or one of those magazines. Many quality people are interviewed so why not make it count! Sorry to see you change.

Your print redesign is terrible. Seriously. The font is hard to read, the articles seem jumbled and bunched together on some pages. Despite being a longtime subscriber, my wife and I dislike it so much that we have decided to switch to another newsmagazine. Your editor stated in his opening piece that no focus groups were used for the redesign, which we believe was a huge mistake as you would have found (we suspect) many other readers who feel the way we do and will not re-subscribe and instead try Time, US News, etc.

In addition, the Belief Watch section never should have been added as a weekly piece (maybe monthly if anything) and the Interview section at the end of the magazine (Nikki?) is beyond shameful for a magazine like Newsweek. Go back and read the past year and you'll see how ridiculous the questions are. Even the people being interviewed have replied and inquired 'What kind of interview is this!?" If I wanted an article like this then I'd subscribe to People or one of those magazines. Many quality people are interviewed so why not make it count! Sorry to see you change.

Speaking of "conventional wisdom," that section often shows little. Case in point, "Note to '60 Minutes': CAll Anita." I wonder ... if the program had been on Anitia Hill, I'm sure they would have said, "Note to '60 Minutes': Call Thomas." About the same probabilty as a new ice age.

I trust you realize that your magazine displays the most "conventional wisdom" when George Will does the The Last Word. This was especially true in the October the 22nd issue. This article should be required reading in every school in the US.

My 9th grade daughter read the article "An Inconvenient Price" written by George F. Will. After finishing reading it, she asked me if that was a satire. She could not believe that someone may write article with such message. It is a shame to Newsweek to publish this kind of opinion, as such belong to era (as author listed) of Hitler, Stalin and Mao.

Will you PLEASE stop publishing articles from Fareed Zakaria...I don't care WHO he is on your staff! This guy is Anti-American. If he thinks America is no longer "exceptional" let him go back to his own country. Something doesn't seem right when someone named "Fareed" is telling me what's wrong with MY President , MY economy, and how HIS advise will fix things (from his article several monts ago). If he's so all-knowing let him go back to his OWN country and clean up their mess! -Mark Hadinger

Maybe it's just me ... maybe I'm just an over-the-hill dinosaur ... maybe I'm plagued with unrealistic expectations ... but I keep looking for and hoping to find news in Newsweek. Instead, I find a lotta tinsel and glitz and superficial stories about superficial events and superficial people. The item that aggravates me the most is your "Newsmakers" page. The people you write about aren't newsmakers and your articles aren't news. I must have napped the day Nicki Gosten became a famous writer ... maybe that explains why I find Gosten's "interviews" to be perhaps the most vapid and brain-numbing articles ever published.

As a retired Navy officer, I know the most wretched words ever spoken can sometimes be: "It's time for an agonizing reappraisal ...." But an agonizing reappraisal is exactly what Newsweek needs. Right now. Newsweek needs to determine whether it's going to be a true news publication or merely another rag simply reporting wavetops and seagulls rather than the true depth, depth, and forces of the tides of time.

Thank goodness for the "Washington Post National Weekly Edition." That's the publication on which I rely for what I consider "real" news literature.

http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/10/893910.shtml

Sorry Jon, but the new magazine layout is terrible. It seems that Newsweek has been going through a slow death over the past few years. Issues devoted to one topic, multi-double issues and now the current issue that seems to have forgotten to include any news stories. The cover story is touching but not what I buy the magazine for, nor should it be the lead story (it's like the NY Times running the same story on page one of the news section above the fold.) Your magazine is called Newsweek, yet you waste pages on Paris Hilton; a look at the head of Blackwater instead of how the State Department is going to deal with all the private contractors; and you skip any in-depth reporting on the growing issue of Turkey, the Kurds and Congress. Like the old Wendy's ad I keep asking "Where's the Beef?" If I want soft features I'll buy People. After many years you have finally lost me, I called and CXD my subscription today. Let me know when you want to be a newsweekly again and I'll be happy to come back.

Sorry Jon, but the new magazine layout is terrible, and by the way where's the news? Over the past few years the format seems to have been becoming more soft feature than a weekly recap and digest of current events. The issue that arrived Monday is everything that is wrong with where you are going as a weekly news magazine. The cover story is touching but not what I need up front. It's like the NY Times putting the same story on page 1 above the fold. And Paris Hilton getting two pages, you must be crazy, or trying to mimic People Magazine. Bottom line, after many years you have finally lost me. I CXD the remainder of my subscription today. Call me when you want to become a news weekly again.

I think it's pathetic that you used specifically a Paris Hilton
picture to announce your website redesign... We buy Newsweek because
we're tired of the nonsense of all those third class gossip
publications... Don't insult out intelligence trying to lure us to
your site with the opposite of what your brand stands for: bad move!!!
I'll only visit your site once: to post this same comment... If I wanted Paris gossip I rather visit perezhilton.com SHAME ON YOU!

I think it's pathetic that you used specifically a Paris Hilton picture to announce your website redesign... We buy Newsweek because we're tired of the nonsense of all those third class gossip publications... Don't insult out intelligence trying to lure us to your site with the opposit of what your brand stands for. bad move, I'll only visit your site once: to post this same comment... SHAME ON YOU!

The web site looks fine, but I don't like the new magazine layout at all. Sadly, it's as if you wanted to make it look like Time! I always liked Newsweek's look better than Time's and the old layout was far superior to the new one. Please reconsider. Remember "New Coke"? It IS possible to go back again.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=8bb9cb53-9fad-49ba-941d-0c9dff7d477e
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/10/893910.shtml
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/09/365622.shtml
http://quebec.indymedia.org/en/node/27967
http://indymedia.us/en/2007/08/27010.shtml
http://indymedia.us/en/2007/08/27011.shtml
http://www.charchaa.com/blogtag/khalid_awan
http://www.nysun.com/article/37251