I can't remember where I first heard about
The Week, but I took out a trial subscription and found myself addicted. AdAge.com recently called it the "
little newsweekly that could" because the latest circulation figures show a 58% jump over the end of 2005.
The Week works because it has found a killer formula for delivering information to busy people.
Inside, readers find very little advertising and no table of contents, but the same categories in the same reliable place every issue. Here's a breakdown:
- The "main stories" are a round up of a couple of big news topics, usually political, with a sampling of newspaper editorials, columnists and a quick "what's next section?" Readers turn the page thoroughly conversant on the topic.
- The "controversy of the week" is a shorter treatment of a big story.
- "The world at a glance" is a collection of briefs from all over the world.
- Several shorter bullet items include the titles; "It wasn't all bad," "Boring, but important," "Only in America," and a contrasting "Good week for/Bad week for" list.
- The rest is fun stuff and opinion including people, gossip, reviews of all kinds, travel pieces, consumer news, a guide to the best on TV and a real estate section featuring three very expensive mansions and a "steal of the week."
Here are the lessons classic newsrooms can take from this successful upstart:
- Design matters. Every page is heavily designed with eye toward helping the reader get through it fast. There are many small, tight features.
- Scrupulous attribution. Almost every single item is originally reported in another publication. Editors make good use of design features and succinct wording to let readers know.
- Organization. There is almost nothing new in the The Week, But it is organized in a way that allows readers to catch up on the big news and then selectively grab a few small things.
- Balance. In sourcing, points of view and content, the magazine strikes a balance that works.
- Hard copies still work. I dig the website, I go there to look up stuff that I remember from the magazine. But the hard copy rules because I can take it on airplanes and to soccer practice and read it in small chunks.
- Consistency is important. Some issues of the magazine show up in my mailbox on Saturday. That's when I look for it. When it doesn't show up until Monday and sometimes even Tuesday or Wednesday, I give up. If it's not there on Saturday, I usually don't read it.
What does all this have to do with ethics? It tells us that mission, clarity and delivery systems are vital to our relationship with the audience. If the content isn't presented in the best possible format, the audience suffers. When the audience suffers, whether it's because we lack skill or purpose, our value declines.
