paper cuts
oh, the end of (print) Newsweek.
the death knell of a brand that has, for nearly a century, been an institution of American journalism is just business. if Newsweek stopped creating a viable product, then it should rightfully close. the tragedy to me is that the people who love magazines the most, the ones who put them out every week or month or quarter, can do their best and still fail.
i’ve been laid off before, and toiled inefficiently in newsrooms humidified by fear, anger and sadness. no journalist wants to work at publication that’s a punchline or a footnote, but social media bullshit and schadenfreude-slinging aside, it’s better than working in PR.
a month ago i was waiting in the Reykjavik airport, homesick and impatient, when i picked up a Newsweek International and found familiar names in my palms. Five years ago, I was in a bodega in Northern Thailand that didn’t even carry Coca-Cola, but it had a copy of Forbes for sale that held my byline in it. with a few hundred words, i felt like i was part of something larger than i. but also…better than i. built and manned and edited by people smarter than i am.
i don’t give a shit if it makes me a cliche or a member of the tech-fearing minority, i love print magazines. i think iPad media is fucking fantastic, but it doesn’t yet match the ceremony of a plastic-wrapped magazine in my mailbox. and i hope the best ones survive.
