What will replace Newsweek?

I read the news that Newsweek is being sold with a combination of disappointment and acceptance. Yes, while we have witnessed in recent years the sale and closure of many magazines and newspapers, somehow I didn’t think Newsweek would fall to the same sad fate. Its regular arrival at my house on Monday seemed to encapsulate what was on the nation’s collective mind. Analytic, in-depth coverage by award-winning reporters on the health care debate, presidential candidates, national tragedies, economic crises and scientific breakthroughs seemed to grab and redirect our country’s attention to a single focus – so the magazine was unifying as much as it was informative. As Edward Kosner, former editor of Newsweek put it in a recent New York Times article, “It was really important what was on the cover of Newsweek and what was on the cover of Time because it was what passed for the national press. They helped set the agenda; they helped make reputations.”

But that was before the 24/7 news cycle really took hold, and before social media, Twitter and liveblogging. As a result of this paradigm shift, the country’s focus today is no longer shaped by what is on the cover of a once-a-week publication. Our news focus now changes hourly or by the minute, not weekly, and is formed by media Tweets and blogs as much as, or more than, full-length print coverage.

The same holds true for reputations. They are no longer framed by one single method of communications, and therefore can’t be made or broken by a single entity either. Bloggers, Twitterati, and even one’s peers, clients and the general public play a much more influential role in shaping one’s public reputation today than in the glory days of Newsweek. Sure, that means more openings for public scrutiny of one’s reputation, but also more opportunities and channels to shape and improve that reputation. For those seeking to build or enhance a public reputation, today’s communications tools offer a million and one ways to do that.

Thus, the acceptance. I guess it was just Newsweek’s time.