Magazines - Newsweeklies - "Time"

I think Newsmagazines have a reputation of playing to the lowest common denominator - or are dumbed down. I have subscribed to Time magazine for about three years now, and really I find it an extraordinary tool to keep me up to date and give me a little background information on current events. But - Time contains more than boring explanations on the race to the white house or information on rebel uprisings in the Balkans.

Truth be told, it tends to be the features that i like the most about the weekly. Humorist Joel Stein provides columns 3 out of every 4 weeks, and the magazine included nothing but his column, I would still subscribe, his column is the first thing I turn to.

The second thing I turn too is an interesting feature called "Numbers". It is a small side column that gives interesting statistics pertinent to a current issue. Then I flip to the "Quotes" and "Winners and Losers" section (on the same page), which usually produces a couple of gems that can be thrown in a conversation.

After that - It's relatively standard news magazine fare, though I find it to be great reading, and almost always of interest to me. They cover just about everything, international, national, world, finance, and politics with their main or cover story - and then each issue will have a page devoted to specific categories, like Health, Finance, and Entertainment. There's the occasional sports based story, and probably in an attempt to be 'hip', there's a 'People' oriented page close to the back to keep you abreast of some hot celebrity gossip. There is usually a column on the back page written by someone notable, for example Basketball great and commentator (not so great) Bill Walton speaking about the Bob Knight issue. If it's not a celebrity column, it tends to be an interesting social commentary piece.

The photos are always top notch and hard hitting, and each year they have a Photo Year in Review bonus issue which as an excellent momento.

My biggest complaint about Time magazine really isn't something that it alone is guilty of, but really that spans across all media, and that's the excessive coverage it gives many topics, such as the Elian Gonzales fiasco, Lewinskygate, or one of my favorte pet issues, the tragedy at Columbine. When will media outlets realize (or care, depending on your view) that over exposure from the media adds to the climate by glorifying, justifying, and hyping these activities? Is it a coincidence that after the Santee high school shooting several weeks ago there were 3 other shootings the SAME WEEK? Come now, media can be blind, but not that blind. Stop fanning the flames.

That complaint aside, the Time is a mandatory weekly read in my home - and each week I am ready and looking forward to the next one to be delivered to me. I'd recommend it to all.

On a side note: My Time subscription includes a great monthly add on, called Time "On" - Their version of Yahoo! magazine. I find this too to be a great bonus, with tons of decent online articles and links - as well as feature stories about doing particular tasks online (Banking, shopping, privacy protection etc). The "On" component is worthy of its own review, and may get one sometime.

Mr_D