Alternatives to The Economist
As most of you probably know, I've been a regular reader of The Economist for a number of years; I currently have a subscription and read it cover-to-cover every week (okay, skipping some of the arts section). In general I enjoy their coverage, but in recent months I've become less and less enamored. I've found that I can almost always predict their editorial stance on a given issue, and find their coverage on long-running stories to be repetitive. Furthermore, I've noticed more and more that their reportage is often sloppy when it comes to important salient facts. They also get lazy with their editorial stances, waving away reasonable objections on flimsy grounds (and discarding alternatives they don't like on an equally iffy basis). It's not that I think they're often wrong in their positions, it's just that their argumentation doesn't actually inform me, which is why I read their magazine. (It also doesn't help that the paper is frustratingly pig-headed about some of its pet beliefs, such as the infallibility of the UK Tories. I don't disagree that Labour and Lib Dems have their own issues, but the editorial line verges on absurdly fawning.)
That being said, I like reading it for a number of reasons; other than the usual daily scan through the news and reading whatever long form pieces I stumble across or get forwarded, The Economist is my main source of media consumption. I was hoping to pick all of your brains about a reasonable alternative or group of alternatives that would supplant my subscription. I'm interested in the following:
1) Weekly issues. I think that daily is just too much (I'm not going to start reading WSJ cover to cover) and monthly is too little (say, The Atlantic). I'm interested in current news and analysis without overwhelming the SNR with lots of daily updates of little significance.
2) Excellent global coverage. I want something that at least pays lip service to covering major events in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Sure, The Economist isn't perfect on this score, but at least they make an effort in principle.
3) Reasonable coverage of finance and business stories. I don't just want politics news.
4) Some sort of interesting editorial line or analysis; dry reporting of facts isn't what I'm looking for, I'd like policy recommendations and thoughtful discussion.
5) A high caliber of writing; something enjoyable to read that doesn't veer into infographics at the expense of a reasonably sized, well-written story.
I'm happy to replace the Economist with a mix of other publications, but I'd like the total reading load to be roughly the same. I'd also like to keep my yearly budget under about $200.
Any suggestions? Something like Bloomberg Businessweek would probably handle the finance/business side of things, but that leaves news and analysis wide open. I find the likes of Time and Newsweek to be unpalatable and simple-minded, so they're out. Most of the other suggestions I've seen (a la The New Yorker) are excellent publications but spend too much time on culture and too little on news. I'm concerned that something like Foreign Affairs is a little too focused on US foreign policy and not a broader, global approach (let alone covering domestic issues).
Let me know what you guys think! I'd love thoughtful or creative suggestions.
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Originally Posted by wiggin
). Even the best generalalist publications wait until crises before they write about non-Western countries.
Brookings has newsletters which probably let you know if anything new is out, but I personally haven't tried that approach.
) and I find it refreshing and informative to hear what other people are thinking on the issue. Done well, policy recommendations can be part of a more complex and nuanced analysis that doesn't close off alternatives, but instead provides a forum for lively debate. It isn't often done this way - in the case of publications like The Economist, there are the aforementioned issues with poor sourcing/support and hand waving. In other publications (including many with bylines), you get personality cults built up around specific writers, where they (rather than their ideas) are lionized, and the writer gets too focused on their pet theories (e.g. most of the NYTimes columnists). But I do occasionally see pieces that don't fall into these traps, and they're a real pleasure to read.
