Why I cancelled our Newsweek subscription

I don't want to subscribe to a news magazine that isn't interested in facts.

This is why I emailed Newsweek today: "Please cancel our subscription. We don't want a refund. We just don't want to see your magazine in our mailbox anymore."

Ever since Newsweek became a weird combination of what it was before, and Tina Brown's "Daily Beast" online site, I've been enjoying the magazine less and less. 

I can get bizarre stories and opinionated rants for free on the Internet. What I wanted from Newsweek is what I get from TIME: thoughtful analysis and intelligent commentary.

But this week Newsweek featured an anti-Obama opinion piece by Niall Ferguson as its cover story. Worse, Paul Krugman caught Ferguson in a blatant lie.

There are multiple errors and misrepresentations in Niall Ferguson’s cover story in Newsweek — I guess they don’t do fact-checking — but this is the one that jumped out at me. Ferguson says:

The president pledged that health-care reform would not add a cent to the deficit. But the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation now estimate that the insurance-coverage provisions of the ACA will have a net cost of close to $1.2 trillion over the 2012–22 period.

Readers are no doubt meant to interpret this as saying that CBO found that the Act will increase the deficit. But anyone who actually read, or even skimmed, the CBO report (pdf) knows that it found that the ACA would reduce, not increase, the deficit — because the insurance subsidies were fully paid for.

Now, people on the right like to argue that the CBO was wrong. But that’s not the argument Ferguson is making — he is deliberately misleading readers, conveying the impression that the CBO had actually rejected Obama’s claim that health reform is deficit-neutral, when in fact the opposite is true.

Ferguson is trying to equivocate his way out of being caught in a falsehood. Unconvincingly. The insurance provisions of the Affordable Care Act can't be separated from the entire Act, as he's attempting to argue.

That's like saying our household budget is running a huge net cost because we spend so much money. Well, yeah. We also have income sources which equal or exceed our spending.

Likewise, the Affordable Care Act spends money to help thirty million people or so to get health insurance. The Affordable Care Act also has income sources which result in a net surplus of revenues over expenses, thereby reducing the federal deficit.

Sorry, Newsweek.

You've lost a subscriber for a very good reason: you're no longer a reliable source of factual news. I hope other Newsweek subscribers also cancel their subscriptions. That's the only way to send Tina Brown a message:

Turn Newsweek around; make it a solid news magazine again, not a frothy, frilly assemblage of unfactual opinion pieces.

Comments

[Jack Bog]

What is this "Newsweek" of which you speak?

[Brian Hines]

Jack, good question. I might have been the last Newsweek subscriber. And now I'm gone.

[tucson]

Newsweek has gone against Obama. Newsweek was once a middle of the road news source decades ago but has turned hard left in recent years. The fact that they would publish a cover like this means something is up. It could be that the same NWO folks are behind both candidates and the election is a charade. Will we be voting for tweedledee and tweedledum? Could it be it makes no difference?

Or, more likely, since Newsweek has been steadily losing readership they have decided to change course in a desperate attempt to stay in business. Maybe it is a smart business decision as they recognise a change in political sentiment and want to ride on the coattails of that change.

[tom cotter]

I love your WHY I CANCELLED MY NEWSWEEK SUBSCRIPTION blog. As stated,opionion rants
are a dime a dozen. Newsweek readers want intellegent analysis of the news!

Tina Brown may get big newsstand sales on these type of headline grabbing articles, but lose subscribers like you and me by this shortsighted approach....So sad.

[Robert Paul Howard]

Cf.: "So, when subject is seen to be illusory, then objects cease to be objects because there is no subject. Everything is no 'thing' (which is quite different from 'nothing'). There is something, but not as we customarily perceive it. Here is where words fail because for the sake of discussion it must be called an it when it is no such thing at all.

"I know we have tried this a number of times over the years to no avail. I realize nothing is likely to change this time, but this is the best I can do to describe an intuition that comes in the absence of conceptual, discursive thought processes, aka 'reason'. No argument will ever resolve it. It is either seen or it isn't. But this should cause no anxiety. It doesn't matter if it is seen or not. Nothing changes because there is no 'thing' to change."
Posted by: tucson | August 21, 2012 at 09:32 AM

-----------------------------

So: "Nothing changes" ... but "[m]aybe it is a smart business decision as they recognise a change in political sentiment and want to ride on the coattails of that change."

(And - one might therefore infer - it likewise makes no difference what the capital gains tax rate is.)

Or is it all just babbling?

Robert Paul Howard

[tucson]

RPH,

Yes, of course it is all just babbling.

That's what we do here.

[Robert Paul Howard]

Q.E.D.

Robert Paul Howard

[Carol]

Oh my, I have the same feelings about Newsweek. What happened? I subscribed maybe ten years ago and resubscribed when a nice college student earning money came to my door.

I have HATED it.

My girlfriend gave me an article from TIME recently that she wanted my opinion on, and it was so much better.

I need to just cancel. Not to mention it is so THIN compared to before. DO NOT LIKE IT.

Thank you for validating my reality.

A fellow Oregonian

[BillBuss]

I also cancelled my subscription.

[Paul]

I just sent my cancellation request this evening.

I re-subscribed to Newsweek a year ago as much to support investigative journalism as to read the magazine. Several years ago, I greatly appreciated the in depth reporting and insightful analysis. With the modern Newsweek, I put up with the lightweight reporting in order to support the remaining good journalism. However, I have to make a statement about this article, and cover, so cancelling my subscription is pretty much the only way I know how.

[Paula]

Cancelled Newsweek after 40 years because if that awful cover.

[Sze-ya Yeh]

I totally agreed with you. I have been very patient to hope that the Newsweek would improve. But the cover story article by Ferguson did the job. I have sent in cancellation request through Newsweek website, and it worked! I am glad that I don't have to deal with this kind of biased magazine!

[Susan]

I also agree with you. How do you cancel Newsweek online? I don't see a place on their website.

[Brian Hines]

Susan, I cancelled by writing Newsweek at:
[email protected]

Here's what I said in my email:

"Please cancel our Newsweek subscription. It is listed under [name/address] .Subscription number is: [number] Expiration date is [date]

We don't expect a refund. We just don't want to see your magazine in our mailbox anymore. This week's cover story about "Obama must go" was the last straw.

Newsweek used to be a news magazine. Now you've become a magazine that features anti-Obama rants as a cover story, rather than putting them on an opinion page. I'm about to put up a blog post that urges other Newsweek subscribers to cancel also.

The fact that the cover story contained blatant untruths, such as the Affordable Care Act increases the deficit (actually, it reduces the deficit), contributed to our decision.

If there's any other information you need to cancel our subscription, let me know."

They didn't need any other info. Next day I got a email back from customer service saying the cancellation was done, but I might get a few more issues.

I thanked the sender, saying Newsweeks customer service is great, but the magazine itself is awful.

[Joyce Evans]

I also just cancelled my subscription by phone due to the misleading Ferguson article and the disrespectful cover on that issue.

Joyce

[DJ]

A few short years ago liberals cast ridicule upon Sarah Palin when she refused in an interview to name the newspapers and magazines she read. Given the post and commentary above, Sarah’s looking pretty smart.

Newsweek is a product of the Hollywood sewer pipe and below is a sampling of its covers since Obama’s coronation. It’s both amusing and revealing to learn what the progressive left has looked forward to receiving in their mailbox all these weeks. Nope, nothing “bizarre, opinionated, frothy, frilly, unfactual, lightweight, awful, biased, or disrespectful” here:

Feb 2009” “We Are All Socialists Now” (Leftist dream realized?)

April 2009: “The Decline and Fall of Christian America” (Another leftist dream)

Sept 2009: “Is Your Baby Racist? (A racially diverse group of babies on the cover? No, just a Caucasian).

Sept 2009: “The Case for Killing Granny”

Nov 2009: “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah?” (Sexism sells)

Nov 2010: “God Of All Things” cover depicting Obama as the Hindu god Shiva.

Jan 2011: “American Assassins” cover implies that the Tucson shooter was an extremist patriot by wrapping him in the American flag.

June 2011: “The Mormon Moment” (one look at this Romney cover has you thinking Howard Dean scream)

Aug 2011: “The Queen of Rage” cover featuring crazy-eyed Michele Bachmann.

Jan 2012: “Why Are Obama’s Critics So Dumb?” (Isn’t it obvious: They’re all knuckle draggers!)

April 2012: “The Fantasy Life of Working Women” cover featuring a blindfolded nude awaiting her spanking.

May 2012: “The First Gay President” cover featuring a rainbow-haloed Obama (yawn…)

Aug 2012: “Romney: The Wimp Factor – Is He Just Too Insecure to be President?” (How many liberals extended their subscription after that cover?)

Aug 2012: “Hit the Road, Barack – Why We Need a New President” (Damn – did that subscription charge hit the Visa yet???)

C’mon sheeple – grow a thick skin and hold on to your subscriptions. The Hollywood sewer pipe and Obama’s campaign coffer are counting on you. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/donations-by-media-companies-tilt-heavily-to-obama/

Sincerely,
Big Oil

[sally in Tallahassee]

Great to know that I'm not the only one turned off by Newsweek to the point of cancelling my subscription today. When I subscribed in April, I did so in order to receive a "this is the week that was" summary of the news. What a mistake. I'm switching to Time. I hope it's better.

[Brian Hines]

Sally, Time magazine is a lot better. I've subscribed to both Newsweek and TIme for many years. Time keeps blatant opinion on its opinion pages, where it obviously belongs. The other stories naturally have the author's slant (nobody is a purely objective writing robot), but those slants are reasonable and documented.

[Ruth Kaplan]

I've subscribed to Newsweek since 1950 when I graduated from college. But Newsweek has gone the way of Commentary, New Republic and the New York Post. All are now catering to the neocons. Hearst lives. Time Magazine was once the captive of Henry Luce in the 50's but no longer. With writers like Fareek Zacharia and Joe Kein it's a better choice.

[Brett Sherman]

I agree. I've been a Newsweek subscriber for 15 years. It sucks now. I can't imagine why anyone would subscribe to the magazine anew. It offers very little and that Niall Ferguson piece was the straw that broke the camels back for me. Might switch to Time or something else.

[Celia Alarcon]

I am extremely disappointed that Newsweek has chosen to go digital as of the New Year and the printed version will cease to exist. Whatever happened to giving people choices as to what they would rather have? My elderly parents have been reading this magazine for over 30 years and like a lot of other senior citizens that do not have digital access will be forced to cancel their subscription. I find this appalling to say the least!! Shame on you Newsweek!!

[Mike Williams]

shtfplan.com / By Mac Slavo / December 19th, 2012

One of the most prestigious awards (in addition to a Nobel Prize) that can be bestowed upon a member of the elite is Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

This year, the award goes to the “Architect of a New America”, none other than Barack Obama.

The President joins such notable figures and social architects winning Time's award as Adolf Hitler (1938), Joseph Stalin (1939, 1942), Nikita Khrushchev (1957), Richard Nixon (1971, 1972), Henry Kissinger (1972), The Endangered Earth (1988), George Bush (2000, 2004), Vladimir Putin (2007), and Ben Bernanke (2009).

grin

[Mike Williams]

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we have been taken.”

quote Carl Sagan

[Rolph Meinzer]

How do I cancel my subscription to your
magazine if you make it impossible to do so?
I do not want to subscribe to your digital
format. My Subscription #100465973812 and
expiratin date Oct.2013. I prefer printed
magazines.
Good luck going digital.

[Ciaparker2]

I cancelled my subscription two years ago, after an article in Newsweek making fun of the highly-educated parents who refused vaccination for their children. My daughter developed encephalitis as a reaction to the hep-B vaccine at birth, given without my permission, and was later diagnosed with autism. I refused the MMR and several other vaccines for her. This is not an issue which a reputable news source should treat with mockery.

I was told that of course I could get a refund on the five years remaining in my subscription, but it took nearly a year and a string of over twenty increasingly angry emails, phone calls, and referrals to higher authorities before I finally got my $90 back. The last employee told me that they had to be careful of people attempting to defraud them, although I had a string of emails including my subscription number which I attached at every turn.

T thought at that time, a little over a year ago, that Newsweek was no longer the magazine I had loved for so long, and told my friends that I didn't think it could stay in business much longer. Its change in format, to center each issue around one theme, I thought was boring, and I was relieved to get out when I did.

[Thomas Zacharias]

For 30 years or more I thought you were more or less middle of the roaders. Now I think you are spokespeople for the Dem. Party and Obama in particular. I' m out. Cancel my subscription and refund my unspent portion.