Tina Brown: A High School Debater's Worst Nightmare
Is there anything that Tina Brown has helmed that hasn't immediately turned to dross? Forgetting everything she has done in the past, let's just talk about what has happened to venerable Newsweek.
I'm old enough to remember when news analysis on a weekly basis meant three choices: Time, U.S. News & World Report, and Newsweek. The three of these news magazines was essential to me: I was a high school debater, and I competed in "expository" speaking. That particular category, and its hellacious companion, "improvisation," were based on the idea that, if given a category, a student could (in expos) use the 30 minutes of prep time to speak for five minutes. (And if you did improv, too, as I did, you got 30 seconds to give a two-minute speech.)
You could always tell those of us who did expository: we were the ones with the fifty-pound flour sacks full of news magazines. After we were given our topics, you'd find us on the floor, magazines petaled around us, as we looked for recent information about trade wars with China or the latest analysis of the Begin administration in Israel.
This was a time before Google--hell, it was a time before computers--and I just wasn't organized enough to have notecards with careful annotations telling me where to find, in which magazine, the articles I needed. My mnemonic device was the cover of the magazine, which I could vaguely remember contained the information about the newest Boeing deal.
It doesn't matter now that computers have made all of this obsolete. Newsweek is obsolete as a news magazine. After you plough through news about each of Tina's celebrity friends, you might find out what happened in the European Parliament--but only if it's going to have a direct impact on all that cocktail conversation Tina has while hobnobbing with people who are most definitely not the hoi polloi.
I occasionally watch Morning Joe. I do it because just once, I want to see Mika actually stand up for herself, tell Joe to STFU, and represent a point of view that doesn't smack of fratboy privileged hijinx.
The days that Tina comes on, I mute the sound. Her toff voice, her name dropping, and the very fact that she has given Niall Ferguson an American audience are enough to nominate her as a hack.
But what she has done to expository speaking--well, that's just plain unforgiveable.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
emma peel 2
Donald Manns
The Flylooper
Vivian Henoch
Lydieth A
Sean Murphy
Salon.com
Comments
My favorite high school speech and debate anecdote: Our team smartaleck used to carry his evidence and research around in a steamer trunk to intimidate his opponents. And just as he was about to enter the room with it he'd yell out the classroom door "All set with the affirmative evidence--you can leave the negative downstairs."
the big 3: cnn, msnbc, fox, for a minute or two.
it gets me angry enough to realize the world is spinning
sideways.
for print, THE ECONOMIST is a cool little read.
wars and rumors of wars.
economic slapdashery.
feudalism on the ascendant.
africa suffering, our Mother Africa, whence we came.
europe pulling itself into oneness not without complaint.
europe could end up ascendant again, a true empire,
and be the next superpower.
thugs in russia.
china being weird , not good weird.
south america givin us our drugs.
santa comin from the north soon.
She came late for her own party and left early. Her husband, Sir Harold Evans, was the charmer, and quite kind and friendly. She is extremely savvy and comfy in her skin.
And the comment about the suits and dresses? Priceless! Just don't forget about the nylons and (modest, not stiletto) heels.
One of the things I remember most is this: I grew up in Montana, and every city big enough to host a speech meet was hundreds of miles away from my home town, and usually held at a local college/university. Being exposed to the college environment -- the cafeteria! the buildings! the dorms! the seemingly ever-so-grown-up college students (especially the men . . . sigh!) -- gave a small-town girl like me a vision of what life could be like if I, too, could work hard enough to get there eventually.
I went on to do debate in college, but it just wasn't as much fun as it was in high school, for some reason. Maybe because, by then, the team was populated primarily by budding lawyer-types who were DEADLY serious about the whole thing.
While I am sad to hear that you have decided Newsweek is no longer to your particular taste, I can remain reassured that since Tina Brown's first redesigned issue of Newsweek hit newsstands in March 2011, single copy sales have risen 20%, ad pages have increased 10% YOY, digital revenue has doubled, Web traffic has increased 78% YOY and subscription renewals - in a constant state of decline since 2006 - have risen by almost 3% for the first time in 5 years.
To your point about turning everything to "dross", I would imagine that the readers of Tatler, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and those who enjoyed her critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller "The Diana Chronicles" would likely disagree with you, as would the 10.7 million monthly unique visitors who we see at The Daily Beast Web site each month. So, Lorraine, while we are sad to lose you as a Newsweek reader, hopefully the 14 million Americans we reach each week will continue to enjoy the magazine as Tina and the team continue to improve its metrics on all fronts.
Regards,
Andrew Kirk
Newsweek & The Daily Beast
I can't stand Tina Brown, Joe Scarborough, Mark "the smug & wrong" Helperin and I'm beginning to think Mika Brezenski's middle name is 'Doormat.' The only place I ever see Newsweek is in the waiting room at the medical practice where my family doctor practices. I never look at any of those magazines given that they are pawed over by sick and sneezing, but otherwise nice people. I think the iPad was invented just so I could comfortably avoid germy rags like Newsweek.
While I appreciate that Newsweek's numbers have gone up, I believe the word count in each issue has gone down. Lots of photographs, lots of celebrity profiles, an occasional commentary by one of Ms. Brown's friends, but not a lot of hard news.
Perhaps that's what the American public wants. I have plenty of other places to get my news from. And, as the American electorate's understanding of the issues continues to slide, I'm sure you all will find plenty of places to offer readers shiny, rather than substantive, things.
Good luck with your publications. And thanks for stopping by.
And I agree with you about Mika, who seems like MSNBC's version of Alan Colmes—present on Morning Joe more for the illusion of balanced-and-fair than for the reality of it. Maybe having Joe on the air makes MSNBC feel more politically balanced, but it's not his politics I object to, it's his willingness (and, sadly, sometimes Mika's as well) to blather without apparent attention to fact. It's always so much easier to make strong political points if a factual basis to your arguments is not required. I hear them talking about this or that random internet rumor and propaganda and wonder if they're doing any verification at all or if they have any concept of the damage it does to not do so. They become not only part of the meme but an amplifying factor, since anything they say becomes instantly more credible just because of who said it and where. Just one more form of dumbing down news standards... not that they're news, but their show runs on a news channel, so it's easy to see why people might be confused.
Andrew said "...I can remain reassured that since Tina Brown's first redesigned issue of Newsweek hit newsstands in March 2011, single copy sales have risen 20%, ad pages have increased 10% YOY...
I understand what the words mean, and I get a sense of what he's trying to say, but why on earth would anyone associated with a news magazine, however ersatz, would attempt that particular syntax?
"I can remain assured..."? What the hell? Why would his assured stasis matter in the least? And to reconfigure LSD's comment just above, there are billions more cockroaches than people in the world but that doesn't make them a higher life form.
(I was never on a debate team—I'm a slow thinker. Not retarded per se, just tend to mosey—though occasionally I rise to deliver a bon mot in a timely manner.)
Thanks to all of you who have reminded me that forensics was fun!
I've just been baking my version of Dundee Cake. It's an Xmas tradition in our house.
as for newsweek maybe you didnt notice but it was in a long, long slide before tina ever touched it. she agreed to buy it for $1 & attempt to rescue/resuscitate it.
we have to look at the background/backdrop here. ink media is in massive, possible terminal decline over about 2 decades. its a shrinking watering hole and all the remaining beasts are getting anxious, stressed, and in some cases biting and even eating each other. the new generation just doesnt read ink media much any more. the biggest threat is newspapers, but magazines are close behind. it would be interesting to plot subscriber counts for some major magazines-- youd be aghast in some cases. this phenomenon is poorly publicized of course by the MSM that has no incentive to inform you of this reality. there was an amazing profile of the LATimes reorg over the last few years-- a stunning read [maybe I will dig that up]. NYTimes is just scraping by as well compared to its heyday. very uncertain times. still all in transition. its not clear what the new formulas are. the new cyberspatial reality will fundamentally not support massive corporations or large news bureaus. "trading offline dollars for online pennies" as far as advertising revenue. murdoch esp is in a lowlevel/near panic. his killing news of the world in a heartbeat is a indication of how much it was really now worth to him & his empire.....
Apparently he said, "all of them. I guess they don't like reporters." The cop then asks what story he came to cover, and when he said Greg Mortenson, the cop closed his book, and told him, well, call your insurance man, and you can get duck tape at the convenience store over there.
Gee, I wonder why the Beast has been so negative? The desk clerk probably did it!
My subscription continued, nearly uninterrupted (except by Vietnam ) until last year when Ms Brown took over the magazine. I gave her a shot at it for 6 months or so and I found Newsweek to have degenerated to not much more than a version of People Magazine.
Thus, a 50 year attachment to Newsweek came to a sad end. Whatever my passion for current events may be, Newsweek was part and parcel in its creation.
If their metrics are all so positive, as Mr. Kirk claims, the question then becomes: Who are their readers?