Newsweek announces layoffs — blogs go ballistic

Jon Meecham, editor of Newsweek, announced that the magazine would be laying off about a dozen positions. What did not surprise me was more news of the tough times in the publishing world; what did surprise me was the unbelievable vitriol in blog posts.

Here is a sampling of blog posts after the announcement:

“Newsweek? What an embarrassing product. Sanctimonious leftists — no one cares what you think anyway."

"Newsweek is a leftist rag and its editor is a propagandist for muddle-headed socialism. I hope the thing sinks like a stone."

"This is great news!. If they actually were an honest fact-based organization, instead of a bastion of liberal zombies, they may have had a chance."

"Liberal BS and lies don't sell, when are these hacks going to understand it?"

"another liberal rag shhet swirling the toilet. i guess noone told them that their readers want everything for free. maybe we could give them a bailout."

"Well, this is a good thing: Now all these lefty reporters can go out and get themselves one of those mysterious 'green jobs of the future' making windmill blades or gluing the silicone film on solar panels."

"Some of the most disingenuous-vile-nasty-despicable people out there today are Democrats and their minions Nonone on the planet can hate like a leftist toady, today."


... and they go on and on. This is Newsweek, folks, not Pravda.

The more I read of blog comments, the more depressed I get by the lack of civility, perspective, depth and tolerance for opposing opinions. We are defining meaning on many of these blog posts not by thoughtful analysis but by how bombastic and outrageous they can become. The number that are filled with hateful rhetoric is astounding to me. The number that are personal attacks, with little regard for the issue at hand, is truly a sad commentary. The number that are full of anger and strive to raise the decibel level, each more outrageous than the last, does not bode well for the “new” journalism in any of its forms.