Newsmax bid for Newsweek is bad news

I'm sympathetic to Ross Douthat's argument that a center-right version of Newsweek could be a force for good, but his suggestion that Newsmax (a bidder for the newsweekly) could carry out that strategy is lunacy:

If Meacham had wanted to play to what seems like Newsweek’s business strength — its large audience outside the Acela corridor — he would have tried to tilt the magazine toward the center-right rather than the center-left, in the hopes of becoming the go-to outlet for the millions of Americans who think that the elite media is too liberal but find Rush Limbaugh too conservative...

Meacham didn’t do any of this, but maybe a Newsweek owned by Newsmax would. True, the Newsmaxers are hard right, not center-right: They’re more Rush than Rauch, more Levin than Labash. But they’re also insisting that if they buy the magazine, “Newsweek would continue in its mission to objectively report the news and provide analysis from a wide spectrum of perspectives.” This sounds like a philosophy that would be compatible with a gradual rightward shift for the newsweekly, rather than a sudden wrench into Sarah Palin territory. And that shift might — might! — be what it takes to save Newsweek from extinction.

Unfortunately, Newsmax's claims about how it would operate the magazine are cheap talk -- they have every incentive to try to appear respectable at this point in the process. The reality is that the magazine has a long history of using nasty rhetoric and promoting misinformation. Among other examples, here's what we wrote at Spinsanity about the Deck of Weasels cards sold by Newsmax during the Iraq war:

The most explicit comparisons [to Iraqi leaders depicted on the now-famous deck of cards issued by the Pentagon to troops in Iraq to help them identify top Iraqi officials], however, have been made by NewsMax.com and Greenpeace, who have both issued their own decks of cards featuring their political enemies. The NewsMax [deck] includes a picture of a politician or celebrity doctored to include a beret bearing the logo of the Iraqi Republican Guard and a "quote revealing his anti-American, pro-Saddam ranting". Prominently featured are French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac as the Ace of Spades (Saddam Hussein's position in the Pentagon deck) and "Sen. Robert 'KKK' Byrd" as the Ace of Diamonds.

I wouldn't expect this company to engage in "a gradual rightward shift for the newsweekly," and you shouldn't either.

Comments

[Rob]

I was a little confused about which magazine Brendan was talking about when he said in this post that "the magazine has a long history of using nasty rhetoric and promoting misinformation." Honestly, my first thought was that he was talking about Newsweek.

But kudos to Brendan for having the courage and humility to link to one of his most priggish and humorless Spinsanity columns, one that ignored the rich and valuable history of political parody. See Hustler Magazine v. Falwell.

[rone]

Yet another "i know you are, but what am i" classic from Rob (not to mention trying to establish equivalence between Newsweek's occasional mistakes and Newsmax's standard disregard for facts), including a devastating demonstration of parodic tin ear, on level with Sen. Knotts's insistence that his calling Pres. Obama and Nikki Haley "ragheads" was merely intended "in jest".

[David]

My guess would be the same as Brendan's. I doubt that Newsmax will successfully create a moderate, center-right version of Newsweek.

Even if they did, I don't think the magazine would succeed. Why would people pay for for week-old news analysis when they can get up-to-the minute news analysis free on the Web?

[X.L.]

Minor correction: Chirac at the time was not Prime Minister (which he had been twice in the past under Presidents Giscard d'Estaing and Mitterrand) but President of the French Republic. Otherwise, good stuff as always.

[David]

As a side issue, what does it mean to say that Limbaugh and NewsMax are far-right, rather than center-right? ISTM that there are basically two ways in which someone can be far-right:

1. Hold very conservative political views, e.g. abolish Medicare, invade Cuba, bring back racial discrimination.

2. Harshly criticize liberals.

Brendan's example of NewsMax's deck of cards fits definition #2. Brendan didn't dispute whether the various quotes deserve to be criticized; he objected to the nasty way that NewsMax made their point.

Limbaugh is most often criticized for the nasty way that he attacks liberals, rather than for his political views, which are pretty mainstream conservative.

[Dr X]

This is alarming. Somehow I got on their email list. They are only slightly more sane than Joe Farah's WingNutDaily, excuse my bluntness.

[GC]

Wha? Hustler is an objective news source?

[Jinchi]

Considering Ross works for the New York Times, which has notably hired conservative columnists such as himself, David Brooks, Bill Safire and William Kristol along with pro-war liberals like Thomas Friedman and torture apologists like Roger Cohen , I think the real question is what he thinks a "center-right" publication would look like.

Maybe an organization that publishes columns like the one recommending a "civilized" military coup to overthrow president Obama fits perfectly.

[Jim]

NewsMax acquires Newsweek - I cancel my Newsweek subscription. Period. Those people belong to the Glenn Beck ignore reality side of the news.

[daniel rotter]

David, I assume that Limbaugh wants to "abolish Medicare" so he would fit a third of the way (he doesn't want to bring back private discrimination, and I doubt he wants to invade Cuba) into your first category. Why do I assume this? Because he implies in his first book that the federal government can't do anything right outside of the military. Last time I checked, Medicare is not military-related.