Forgive this non-movie rant – it won’t happen often.
I care deeply about journalism, and not just because it pays the rent (barely). So it hurts to see newspapers and magazines hemorrhaging readers.
A major reason why is due to their blatant bias. Can Newsweek run any more glowing photos of President-elect Obama on its cover before 2008 comes to an end?
It even reached out to my once favorite magazine, Men’s Health. I’ve been reading the mag for years for its great content, and I’ve loved its nonpartisan nature. Other men’s publications like GQ and Esquire lean heavily to the left.
Don’t conservative men like to look good, too?
So when Men’s Health put Sen. Obama on the cover of its Nov. issue in a blatant act of rah-rah-reporting, I decided to cancel my subscription.
Another faithful subscriber felt the same way, and his complaint made the magazine’s letters page this month. “Alex” called the cover “a shameless plug,” mailed the issue back and threatened to cancel his subscription.
So how did the magazine respond?
“Thanks for returning the issue, Alex. Those copies are now being offered for $20 on eBay.” – Eds.
How utterly arrogant and dismissive. I’ll never buy another Men’s Health again, and I bet I’m not alone.
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If the website is any indication, the magazine is put together by a bunch of gay guys (or women) desperately trying to appeal to straights. The exaggerated, almost satirical “maleness” is an indication of their own sexual insecurity. That would explain their infatuation with the Obamessiah. I imagine this will fade quickly if the disenchantment continues.
I often hear that about the magazine … but I was a regular reader and it simply served up good info on nutrition, health and fitness. I just ignored the muscle bound, hairless men who decorated each issue!
They lost a lot when they kicked Greg Gutfeld out.
Someone suggested towards the end of the election that to get an idea of the how bad the bias was/is that you look at the sheer volume of magazine covers he’s been featured on. The number is staggering, and not a negative story about him in the bunch.
Michelle Malkin has an excellent post comparing the way Bush’s workout/fitness regime was covered compared to Obama’s.
Sadly the left has felt the need to politicize everything.
The magazine election wasn’t even close …
I went to Ebay to verify that $20.00 for an Obama issue, and I found the going price to be $2.00. Men’s health can’t even get that report correct.
I wish I thought to check that out, Dan … good thinking! I just ebay’d it and found prices ranging, some as low as $2, others higher but below $25.
Just out of curiosity I looked up how many times Obama’s appeared on Time and Newsweek.
Time- Featured 14 times, in the skybox 11. So out of 52 issues he was on 25 of the covers.
Newsweek- 12 out of 49
Just for comparison with McCain………
Time- featured 5 times and 3 of those were shared with Obama
Newsweek-4
No bias there, Opus … move along.
But what your mag countdown misses is how those covers frame Obama. I’m staring at Newsweek’s latest issue … “The New Global Elite” issue. Obama is standing in the center of the graphically intense page, looking like the king of the world.
Wow, it’s interesting to learn of others letting their long-term Men’s Health subscriptions lapse as I did because of the ‘Bama issue and the editor’s response. I believe I received it for over twenty years!