jps246's Full Review: Newsweek Magazine Subscription
A great place to get your weekly dose at national and international news, Newsweek Magazine offers insightful news reporting along with a fairly healthy dose of “cultural” news.
Published 53 times a year, Newsweek comes out just about every week except for the last two issues at the end of the year, which are combined into a single issue. If you were to pick up a copy on a newsstand it would cost you $3.95 and a subscription direct from the publisher costs roughly $21 (that’s only 79 cents an issue).
Basics
Newsweek as the title suggests is focused on the past week’s news stories. This includes stories on politics, national and international events, sports, society, culture and more. Each issue is a well put together collection of articles, columns and quick information bites that is both interesting and easy to read.
At about 60 to 70 pages an issue, Newsweek definitely isn’t a “fat” magazine and makes for a quick read, which is handy for people afraid that they may not be able to keep up reading with a weekly subscription.
There is advertising throughout each issue, but generally it’s kept to a minimum and is fairly unobtrusive. Major stories are not broken by ads, and even most of the other stories are fairly unbroken by the ads.
As with anything beyond a simple list of facts, Newsweek does seem to have a slight angle to their news coverage. I’d peg it at ever so slightly left of the center, which for a liberal like me is good – but I’m sure some people won’t want to read this because of the “distorted” news that they see in an issue.
What’s in an issue?
Throughout the year the basic setup in each issue is the same. You have the Cover Story, editorial columns, news articles, tips and various departments. These are set up in such a way to move you through each issue. Each issues begins with information about what is online at Newsweek’s website (www.newsweek.com), along with an opening note from the Editor and works its way to closing each issue with The Last Word, which is an editorial or essay by a select writer.
As you can probably guess, the Cover Story is the feature story in each issue. When you’re walking by Newsweek and you see the picture on the cover and the headline – that’s the major story you are going to find in that issue. At times this can be covered in a single story, or is contained in a collection of stories and articles around a central theme. This generally takes up a good portion of an issue, anywhere from eight to twelve or more pages, depending upon the topic and how it’s presented.
The Departments section is where you’re find the typical contents of most magazines, including the letter from the Editor, letters from readers, along with some things that aren’t included in other magazines like My Turn, where a different writer each issue writes about something that is important. Though Newsmakers falls back into the typical magazine stuff – and covers news surrounding celebrities. Periscope steps it back up though, providing quick bites of information about various stories that may not have been enough for a full article. Periscope also contains “Conventional Wisdom” where they take a tongue-in-cheek look at the standing of various individuals.
The Tip Sheet is a collection of articles on different topics that offer advice and ideas for people. This includes travel, money and family and other topics and is just a quick sort of bullet list almost of this information for each topic.
The rest of the magazine is made up of the news stories and editorials. There’s generally at least a story on several different topics including the War on Terror, Politics, National Affairs, Business, Sports, Society, Justine, and Movies, along with editorials by various writers with various points of view. On the whole these stories generally run about a page in length, maybe slightly shorter and at times, slightly longer. All of these columns and stories are well written and for people interested in the various topics, engaging.
Experiences
My folks have had a subscription to Newsweek for as long as I can remember and so I grew up reading the magazine (how many 13 year olds can you say read Newsweek each week?) and even now that I don’t live at home anymore, I still enjoy the magazine when I’m visiting my folks because I get stacks and stacks of them to take back home and read (my parents hate wasting things). I had considered my own subscription, but in reality I have one, it’s just about a month and a half behind the regular subscription, when you factor how many I get with each visit to my parents.
For me, whether or not I’m reading the most current issue, or an issue several weeks back, Newsweek is still a great read and one of the few news magazines that I read with any regularity. I don’t get all of my news from the magazine by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to read some back story and learn more than what you get in the 30 second sound bite on the radio or television.
Over the years I’ve noticed “fluff” moving into Newsweek, but on the whole it’s not too bad. A few pages devoted to celebrity news isn’t that bad (I can just skip it) and on the whole, even that kind of stuff is well reported and fun to read.
I’ve also always enjoyed the cultural look that Newsweek has at times with stories about pressing social and cultural issues. I can remember when I was younger and an issue about gays came out (I believe it was two guy’s holding hands on the cover if I remember correctly – this is going way back) and I know I read every last word because at the time, I wasn’t out, I really had no idea what it meant beyond me being different, and it felt good to see a national news outlet tackling an issue that was important to me. Other interesting stories have included a look at Christianity, genetics and more - Newsweek for me does a good job at looking at all of these kinds of cultural and social issues.
I don’t think anyone would be poorly served with a subscription Newsweek, especially considering the discount you get with a subscription. At 79 cents an issue, your subscription costs less per issue than what you spend on your coffee each morning and you get up-to-date news and editorials from a solid source.
Final Thoughts
Just about anyone (except I suppose for way right-of-center people) should be satisfied and even enjoy a subscription to Newsweek. You get a weekly dose of the latest news in our political, national, international, and cultural worlds in a package that’s both engaging and easy to read.
Even without a subscription, it’s worth picking up a copy of Newsweek at the newsstand if you see a cover story that catches your eye – you can be guaranteed that you’ll find insightful coverage of the topic.
So stay in tune with our world’s news and check out Newsweek.
Subscribe to Newsweek Magazine direct from publisher for only $40 for one year (54 issues). You'll save 85% off the cover price. Get expert reportin...More at Newsweek
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