“The Newsweekly’s Last Stand”:http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200907/news-magazines
The Atlantic Monthly (July/August pp.48-53)
Michael Hirschorn ponders the success of The Economist newsweekly in the increasingly paperless news economy. His analysis is largely business strategy and the article misses the point as evidenced in it’s comparisons with TIME and Newsweek. Unlike those magazines The Economist is a _global_ publication from a _global_ perspective.
My subscription to The Economist has continued for years. It was the first magazine I ever subscribed to (I have always been more of a book reader). My experience with The Economist led me to try subscribing to The Atlantic Monthly and most recently Foreign Policy. My experience with those two publications has been lacklustre. They are far too America-centric. This is understandable for The Atlantic, which positions itself as a journal for American intellectualism. I basically pick out the articles by Kaplan, Hitchens and Bowden and skim the rest. I could do just as well online. FP on the otherhand should be more international, but is squarely in that camp sometimes referred to derogatorily as “American political science”.
I am not American so it is understandable that I tire of endless US-centric analyses. I would have thought, however, that America would have the resources to produce a weekly or monthly publication with a truly global perspective. The large percentage of US-bound subscriptions to The Economist proves that their is domestic demand for such a perspective.
I don’t subscribe to the Economist but it is usually what I buy when I am traveling. I pretty much skip the editorials and roll away the covers. The best part is the short articles divided up by regions.
I think the biggest problem with periodicals is the fact that they have to put something out each week. This makes columnist who otherwise might have good thoughts put out half baked ideas just to make a deadline. Look how people look at Tom Friedman now.
That is what I like about Kaplan (some of the time). He is at his best when he makes a lengthy trip somewhere and has time to contemplate before writing. His profile on Narendra Modi and article on the Makran Coast were pure gold. However the shorter articles he produces in between leave much to be desired.
The difference is original content versus drawing opinions from abroad.
Just yesterday I have renewed my subscriptions to Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, while signing a new one for The New Yorker – but I cancelled the one to Foreign Policy. In the only year in which I have been a subscriber, and with a good opinion of Moses Naim, I have been disappointed by the magazine content. I was expecting less attention to the facts of the month and more perspective.
Definitely will try The Economist.
“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”
I used to subscribe to The Economist but now stick to reading it online. I have a subscription I’m not gonna renew for Foreign Policy which has become ever more superficial and gimmicky. I still enjoy Foreign Affairs though.
I’ll agree that far too many publications are US centric, not to mention simple trash, e.g. Time and Newsweek which I haven’t read in 5 or 8 years at least.
You also have to consider the fact that the Economist is fulfilling this otherwise unmet need the U.S. With the economics of this industry coming under assault (and the industry’s reluctance to change) it is highly unlikely that any new periodicals are going to be launched to compete w/ a brand like The Economist.
Regards,
TDL
I always liked the Economist primarily because I do not read daily papers. I figure if a story isn’t big enough to get covered in the weekly Economist, then I needn’t have wasted my time thinking about it. I would also recommend dumping Foreign Policy in favor of Foreign Affairs.
I think Monocole is a good genuinely global read, but it is a extremely hipsterish lifestyle mag and it frequently grates on me.
I have inadvertently won a lifetime free subscription to the Economist. It seems to be a bug in their system. Several years ago I had a print subscription. When I went on vacation, I told them to put the subscription on hold. While it was on hold I decided I was tired of it. But my access to the website was never disabled. To this day it is still active, and I haven’t paid them a cent since 2003.
“Kaplan, Hitchens and Bowden”
Benjamin Schwarz’s book reviews are the best thing in it. Then Kaplan and Bowden. Hitchens is good when reviewing books, not so good on other things.
A recent gem from “Foreign Policy” -
“Koizumi has been followed by a series of weak prime ministers. All have been good men, and several, including Shinzo Abe and Taro Aso, have possessed a clear vision for Japan in the world.”
I laughed out loud at that last bit.
Yeah, I think “Foreign Policy” is unsalavagable.
Look, Americans can’t really do international. A country which dominates the world economically, militarily and culturally, and is remote from the main world land mass – hardly surprising that it is a byword for insularity, even though that is a paradox. A publication based in a second rate power that used to be in the global big league is a much better base for that.
The Economist gives a great snapshot of the past week, and well written (if a bit pompous at times), but it is not what it was. Too much consensus, and two handed economist stuff (“on the other hand…”)
I recommend the Thunderbird International Business Review.