THE MEDIA: The Economist

Phil Huyck comments:

"Your comments on the reputation of The Economist are on target. For Christmas, my daughter found an original copy of the Time Magazine from August 1962 with the cover story on the Berlin Wall that I helped write as a trainee correspondent. As I perused the nearly 40-year old magazine, I was struck by how much the old Time was like the current Economist. Through not nearly as international or thoughtful, it served the same basic purpose. Today Time is a pop culture magazine, a variation on People, and nowhere near the serious news source it once was. Heraclitus was right, nothing is permanent except change."

My comment: This is a terribly serious matter. Henry Luce (1898-1967), who founded Time in 1923, was born in China, the son of missionaries. His intent was very serious, but in recent years it has become so pop that I cancelled by subscription. Ditto for Newsweek. U.S. News is still serious, but it shows signs of slipping. Insight remains on my list because it has some very informative articles, but it is really a propaganda organ for the Republican Party. Like the Washington Times, it is part of the empire of the Rev. Sung Myung Moon.

American weeklies and commercial TV have been engaged in a rush to the bottom, and it may be a trend in all capitalist countries. Like American TV, Deutsche Wells and now Televisa and other commercial stations worldwide use loud sound effects, including the beating of drums, and barking announcers to attract customers. Many programs are just a sandwich of commercials with thin slices of intellectual beef between the layers of bread (=cash). A recent posting reported that one Colombian TV "news" broadcast was all commercials. Even educational TV stations run commercials. C-SPAN 1 and 2 are still free of this junk food. This is one aspect of the globalization of American-style capitalism.

Ronald Hilton - 1/10/01