Growing up,
U.S. News & World Report was a go-to source for the current-event reports that middle school teachers regularly thrust down our throats. For obvious reasons - see under
"hyperactivity, sugar- and hormone-related" - I didn't like the magazine then. In the years that followed, it fell off my radar: it wasn't as lively as
Newsweek or as thoughtful as
The Atlantic Monthly.
Checking in with the March 21 issue of USN, I was surprised that it hasn't evolved a whole lot in that time. The layout and flow remain quite similar, as
does the subject mix and sober tone. Given the radical evolution of news-consumption habits over the past few years, this is not a good thing.
What struck me first about the issue was
its flimsiness. It weighs in at a mere 68 pages; with 20 or so devoted to ads, three to reader letters, and others to mainstays like the table-o'-contents page, that leaves only 40 or so for
legitimate content. Again: not good.
Worse, only a small fraction of that content feels smart or diverting. The mag's venerable "Nation & World" section has been reduced to
a mere three stories over seven pages, with about half of that space devoted to staid photos of suit-clad politicos (USN practically begs for a graphic makeover). There's nothing wrong with the
stories, but few haven't been done elsewhere. As a newsweekly, USN should've had the scoop on potential Social Security fixes and Republican efforts to court black voters months ago.
The "Career Guide 2005" cover story seems similarly behind the curve. The items on family/work balance and finding the elusive perfect job could have been poached from a career pamphlet at
the local welfare depot. Even when the magazine stumbles on a compelling nugget - such as a company that required its smokers to enter a cessation program - it gets buried in a blander trend-oriented
piece about health care benefits. Elsewhere, train conductor and casino "cage" worker are identified as hot jobs - talk about appealing to your target demographic.
And then
there are the columnists, long considered one of USN's primary strengths. I didn't get past the headline on Michael Barone's latest dispatch, which proclaimed "Democrats Are Out of
Gas." And far be it from a whippersnapper like me to snipe at a journalism legend like Lou Dobbs, but I think his milk carton is rapidly approaching its expiration date, so to speak. The thrust
of his column: U.S. dependence on foreign oil leaves the country vulnerable economically. Gee, Lou, you think? Somebody ought to go back in time and mention this to the Carter Administration.
Certain aspects of USN remain in fine form. I've always dug Paul Bedard's "Washington Whispers" column, a sharp hybrid of editorial-page perspective and Page Six pot stirring.
The terse, clever blurbs of "The Week" don't disappoint, with a standout item on the ongoing series of India/Pakistan cricket matches. And I love the feature on "Optic Nerve"
literary cartoonist Adrian Tomine; it's the single story in the issue that offers legit insight into what makes its subject tick.
On its cover, U.S. News & World Report brags
that it has been rated "America's Most Credible Print News Source." That's all fine and good, but as The Economist and non-print vehicles like BBC News remind us on a regular basis,
"credible" doesn't necessarily have to mean "boring" or "reactionary." Somebody at USN must've missed the memo.