Newsweek, the loss-making US news magazine, is about to change its identity, with a new design, a change of content and the acceptance of a much smaller readership. It is to abandon its coverage of the week's big events. Editor Jon Meacham says: "The drill of chasing the week's news to add a couple of hard-fought new details is not sustainable."
Its parent, the Washington Post Company, has watched sales fall away in recent years. It is believed to have a core of 1.2m subscribers. Now it plans to appeal to this core by supplanting news with opinion and commentary.
It will lean heavily on the appeal of big-name writers like Christopher Hitchens, Fareed Zakaria and George Will.
Starting in May, articles will be reorganised under four broad, new sections — one each for short takes, columnists and commentary, long reporting pieces like the cover articles, and culture — each with less compulsion to touch on the week's biggest events. (Via New York Times)
