Why Time and Newsweek Will Never Be The Economist

by Matt Pressman
NYT
April 20, 2009

“We’re going to turn things around by being like The Economist.” That line is beginning to rival “10 secrets to perfect abs” for the title of most overused magazine cliché. It has been a mantra for America’s weekly news magazines for three years now, and as The New York Times reported last week, it has spread to several other magazine genres.

It’s a logical impulse. While other magazines are hemorrhaging readers and laying off staff, The Economist's circulation has doubled in the past seven years and its ad pages have steadily increased, even as it remains unusually expensive to both readers and advertisers.

But while raising subscription and newsstand prices might not be a bad idea, trying to imitate The Economist in other ways is a fool’s errand. The news weeklies can never be like The Economist, no matter how hard they try. Here are the four main reasons why.

(More here.)