The Website That Bought Newsweek

There is another date to remember in the tormented history of the evolution of the media: For the first time, an old, glorious newspaper was taken over yesterday by a website with just two years of life. But the wedding of Newsweek and The Daily Beast, according to many critics, may do harm to both.

Newsweek was founded in 1933. The first issue of the magazine cover had seven photographs, one for each day of the week, and it cost 10 cents. Bought by The Washington Post in 1961, it fought with honor in the market: During the best years, the run was 6 million copies, and it was a contender of rival Time magazine, thanks to high quality and a more liberal style.

The Daily Beast only appeared online for the first time in October 2008. It was founded by the fierce former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, Tina Brown, in the wake of other similar sites, such as the Drudge Report or Politico, and it promised to reveal secrets and political scandals, but so far it hasn’t done much. Even today, only one-third of the content is original, while the rest of the material is taken for free from newspapers and traditional publications. Still, The Daily Beast has 5 million unique visitors per month, [the number of] which has grown, thanks to new, crucial headings such as “Sexy Beast.”

If Newsweek had not made so many mistakes, there would probably be no need for the marriage. Almost all of the decisions that its leaders made in 2008, due to the early signs of a serious crisis, have been proven wrong and increased the loss, which amounted to $11 million in the first quarter of this year.

The journalists did their part, too: Michael Isikoff, for example, in 1998 had all the elements to write the story of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, but the magazine stalled and was burned by the Drudge Report. The same Isikoff wrote recently that Guantanamo guards had thrown a Quran down the toilet and then admitted to not being sure — after Muslim demonstrations worldwide had already resulted in deaths.

Collapsing, Newsweek was sold last August for one symbolic dollar to billionaire Sidney Harman who, thanks to his 92 years, knows a thing or two about the old media. Tina Brown is convinced that The Daily Beast, with its active metabolism, will instill new energy in Newsweek, and in return, the glorious newspaper will bring greater authority and credibility to the website.

The marriage, after all, is reminiscent of the ones nobility had with wealthy people: a title in exchange for money. But as with many of these unions, it is not guaranteed to work. The integration will be difficult, and users of The Daily Beast are the most puzzled. Yesterday in Tina Brown’s blog, there were hateful comments: The deal, a reader wrote, will serve only as “instantly doubling the value of Newsweek to $2.” And another, succinctly [stated]: “No matter how many turkeys you tie together, you don’t get an eagle.”