When ESPN The Magazine debuted a couple years ago, it was a joke — all flash and infographics, no substance. It’s remarkably how much they’ve turned it around; they’re even better than SI some weeks. The old ESPN The Magazine wouldn’t have been capable of serious magazine journalism like this.

(Maybe there’s a lesson in there about journalism style and substance. USA Today, the legendary McPaper, has also turned it around in the last few years — and, perhaps not coincidentally, finally become profitable. Their Middle East coverage, for instance, has been stellar. Best line from that story linked above: “Former USA Today editor John Quinn once joked that the paper had become famous for ‘bringing new depth to the definition of shallow’ and that if it ever won a Pulitzer Prize, it would be for ‘best investigative paragraph.’”)

30 May 2002

Comments

No comments yet.

Post a comment