TIME magazine's uniquely American covers
One is not like the other: Starting with a discussion about the December cover, Twitter users pointed out that TIME has repeatedly shunned international news stories for its domestic cover.
So revealing: here's what Time Magazine thinks of its American readership is.gd/vQyCwg (via @IRANALLIANCE)
@ggreenwald They think Americans will buy more copies of a magazine will some bullshit lifestyle story on the cover. Are they wrong?- @jonathanshainin It reveals they think Americans are uniquely uninterested in vital world news events-I guess you can say "And?" if you want
- Shortformblog counters with sarcasm: "Thought: Anxiety isn’t really good for you when it’s spread out over an entire country." (Emphasis in original)
Exhibit A why Americans are ignorant of world affairs: time.com/time/magazine/… via @ahauslohner- TIME magazine isn't the only U.S. media outlet to put lifestyle stories ahead of world events, but a bit of digging through the archives reveals other instances at TIME.
- And Exhibit B. RT @kg_smith: NYT puts story on @MittRomney's hair on front page ... story on European debt crisis merely makes A4
- Bloomberg TV's Washington-based correspondent Lizzie O'Leary responds:
@abumuqawama oh come on. euro crisis has repeatedly been on A1 in past few weeks.- [link fixed] This from TIME - is.gd/vQyCwg - is apparently par for the course is.gd/HMhl0C & is.gd/vbVQWL
Looks like I should read the intl editions of TIME to know what's up in the world: ti.me/vwGXVx, ti.me/tZlTOD -via @acarvin- What's interesting isn't just that the U.S. edition of TIME shunned international events for the cover. For example, a glance at this year's archive of German news magazine DER SPIEGEL reveals eight international covers out of 47, which feature stories on national politics, health or technology. It is remarkable, though, that TIME essentially chose a fluff story (or, if you want to be generous, a consumer-oriented one) over the international story for its domestic cover in all the above instances .
DER SPIEGEL 2011Das deutsche Nachrichten-Magazin. Die wichtigsten Themen, Meldungen und die komplette Ausgabe als E-Paper.- The Onion nails it. theonion.com/video/time-ann… RT @acarvin: @abumuqawama Or the previous issue: ti.me/tzTGXc
- Update, 11/26: Shortformblog has run the numbers and found that TIME covers split about 60 - 40 between hard news stories and features. While the U.S. edition isn't more "soft" per se than the international ones, the times it did diverge are notable because a feature story was chosen over an immediately newsworthy event. But judge for yourself!
