“On the Cover of Newsweek”…
June Smith
Newsweek’s become story of its own since its launch in 1933.
A household staple for decades, although always a step behind Time and U.S. News & World Report. In the era of “cover issues”, Newsweek has the distinction of being the first such magazine to put a black American on the cover accompanying its sympathetic civil rights movement outcry.
Acknowledging the symbolism of being on the cover, Paul Simon referenced it in his 1972 song “Me and Julio Down by the School yard” with the lyrics “…and when the radical priest come to get me released, well we was all on the cover of Newsweek”.
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It’s still on airport magazine racks, newsstands, lugged around by mail carriers and boasts a 2012 circulation of more than 1.5 million despite being battered by changes in the way we now get news; declining revenues and “restructuring”; the sale to Sidney Harman reportedly for a dollar and the assumption of the mag’s liabilities; and finally, the merger with the news and opinion website, The Daily Beast.
But this week, Newsweek is making the news with its “Hit the Road Barack” cover and Niall Ferguson’s piece effectively portraying Obama as a failure and breaking his promises and backing up his reporting with facts and statistics as to why BO has to GO.
Here’s the link: www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/19/niall-ferguson-on-why-barack-obama-has-to-go.html
The Daily Beast’s Kevin Fallon “rounded up” the “quickly generated passionate responses across the web” — including the “most blistering and critical” at www.thedailybeast.com.
There’s no official White House response yet. They are too busy drooling over Todd Aiken’s ghastly gaffe, far more beneficial for them than Ferguson’s frank and forthright case for the failed presidency.
Photo credit: Newsweek
Most likely, we won’t have to wait long for an inappropriate remark to be made by a candidate or elected official, Democrat or Republican, and Ferguson’s piece will be soon be old news.
But I agree with Ferguson: It is time for Barack to hit the road.
June Smith is the widow of Ron Smith, WBAL Talk Show Host, Emmy® Award winner, and Baltimore Sun columnist, who was a media titan in Maryland area and beyond for almost forty years. Her tribute website, founded in his memowww.friendsofronsmith.com. She is working diligently to raise one million dollars for the Ron Smith Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund at Johns Hopkins. Her email is june@friendsofronsmith.com.
