Time, Newsweek, or The Economist?

It’s my first post in 2010. I know, it’s been a while since I made the last post due to my holiday laziness syndrome or whatever it is. Well, not anymore. I’m kind of confused about what to write here. This is supposed to be a fashion blog, initially—although not exclusively about fashion. But then looking at my new post here, I’m not even talking about it. Maybe it’s just my multidimensional self (like my multidiscipline university major).

ANYWAY, as an avid consumer of magazines, I’m interested on how people have their own preferences when it comes to weekly news magazines. I reckon there are three major international newsweeklies: Time, Newsweek, and The Economist. Here’s my assessment on these three great publications:

Time

The first thing I like about this magazine is its sharp yet delightful design—not to mention its signature red border on the cover. Its writers are great, and especially I like to read the last page (“Essay”) where you can find interesting opinion about current affairs. The photography is also breathtaking. The other thing that Time has to offer is its special double-issue editions—“The 100 Most Influential People,” “Person of the Year,” “Heroes of the Environment”—which are always a great company for rainy Saturday afternoon (Why do I get all melancholic like this?). It is a well-edited magazine: 50% politics and economy, 50% human -interest topics, which means fun for me…

Newsweek

As its name suggests, Newsweek  offers analyses about what happened throughout the week. What I like the most from this magazine is its editor, Fareed Zakaria. His article and opinion page are always insightful and witty, yet he never comes across as being aggressive. He’s simply a pragmatic. I recently got its “Interview issue” where they held conversations with “people who matter,” like Hillary Clinton and Hamid Karzai, and it’s fun to read. Overall, if you’re looking for straightforward articles and sharp analyses, get a copy.

The Economist

 

This is my International Politics lecturer’s favorite magazine (he’s talking about it, like, every week). A little different from the aforementioned two, The Economist doesn’t really offer much opinion pages, but rather, it has news analysis. And more interesting thing is that it rarely mentions the writers of the articles, so I can’t tell if there’s any writer I like from this magazine. Since it’s an English publication, it’s nice to read the British spellings which add a sort of London vibe to it. The other thing that also interests me –although this is not what you can find inside the magazine—is the “Economist Debates” section in its Website, where two experts are arguing over a certain topic (if you’re a debater, this is a must-see).

Of all those three above, the one that I buy frequently is Time. I’m a sucker for great layout, and I think Time’s is the best. But don’t get me wrong, I also like it for (obviously) its articles that span from serious (Joe Klein et al.) to hilarious (Joel Stein, hands down). I also think the entertainment section is better. It’s just more—how you say it?—pop culture-esque.

Postscript:

Honestly, right now, if you want to get a piece of new information, thanks to Google, you can just type and click your way to it. But there’s another sense of satisfaction when you are reading a great magazine in the corner of your room. There’s Kindle and all other e-book readers, yet I think print publication is still here to stay…