Supporting his claim, an L.A. Times article stated that the TIME reporters admitted to withholding the story because, “TIME editors were concerned about becoming part of such an explosive story in an election year.” Many believe that if TIME would have published the story earlier, because of TIME’s large influence on Americans, the outcome of the election may have turned out differently. It is hard to say, but evidently not even the editors of TIME were willing to underestimate their influence and take such a large gamble.
American Culture's Influence on TIME
Even as early as the 1930s, TIME editors have worked to accommodate and ensure that the American public gets what the American public wants out of their news magazine. In the thirties, to keep up with the radio, TIME launched a 10-minute weekly broadcast reporting about the articles that were featured in that week. The broadcast began to gain success and converted many listeners to readers of the magazine. The broadcast was changed to thirty minutes, and even more readership followed.
Eventually, America wanted more, and TIME figured out a way to get it to them. Although there is no longer a radio segment, the problem still persists. As of the late eighties (thanks in part to the introduction of 24-hour news networks and to the Internet), TIME once again needed to reinvent itself. The immediacy of the Internet and television news was leaving the weekly news magazine in shambles, forcing them to adapt their material onto the web.
In 1994, TIME launched its pathfinder website, adding story databases, showcase photography, and more advertising space. The site was not the boom TIME had hoped for, and efforts once again were made to deliver content in an innovative way to its readers. The site was not immediate enough. TIME’s reputation of professionalism as a news magazine was expected by readers to cross over into the World Wide Web. Many believed the site did not uphold that certain cutting-edge professionalism, and because of it, the initial website was never the large success TIME desired it to be.
The website relaunched in January of 2007 in hopes of posting blogs and news updates at least twice a day, in an effort to provide a cleaner, bolder look for advertisers. TIME.com Editor Josh Tyrangiel recently stated that the site will adopt a more consistent focus on providing constantly updated news and analysis. “TIME has had a fluctuating online strategy, and there have been moments when it’s been really, really good and moments when it’s been really bad.”
Article comments
1 - Kevin Eagan
Interesting read. My wife has a subscription to TIME and I must say, I'm disappointed in its news quality. It seems like it's trying too hard to be "hip," and it shows. I wish they'd stick to in-depth world news coverage, because that's what makes TIME great. If I wanted to read about pop culture issues, I'd stick to the Web sites and magazines that deal with POP CULTURE not TIME.
2 - Steve Ellwanger
Greetings. I handle public relations for Mediamark Research & Intelligence. While MRI does collect consumer readership information about magazines, it does not issue the kind of "analysis" cited in this story. Quite often, someone obtains MRI data and uses it to write a report, issue a press release, etc., but MRI does not issue reports on individual magazines. It collects data and sells them to its clients.