Recent Time and Newsweek covers constitute last gasps in the dying newsweekly business. Of greater concern, however, is that while these magazines are already in media’s rearview mirror, their turn toward tabloid-style sensationalism reflects what is happening all along the information highway. You saw or heard about the covers that caused the fuss: Time with a 26-year-old mother breast feeding [Read More]

Independent’s Eye by Joe Gandelman America’s 2012 Presidential election has now officially entered its “English Class” stage. On Election Day they’ll get a pop quiz to see how well the national voting class learned the teachers’ definitions. Top grade goes to the teacher whose definition was learned. In this game, presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney better get cracking. Defining [Read More]

They say if you work in a candy store you’re likely to gorge on sweets for a while and then get sick of the stuff. Perhaps something similar will happen to consumers of news and information who, in the relatively new age of digital consumption, are filling up on fluff. For most media, it’s a time of tabloidism. The other [Read More]