The purpose of the experiment
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the ideological balance of news magazines relative to mass media. It is important to remember that all mass media and news magazines can cover the same subject, but news magazines will still provide an in-depth view of the matter as they offer quick-to-use facts to audiences. The purpose of this exercise is therefore to distinguish the ideological diversity of news magazines on the basis of coverage patterns.
Daily coverage of people's way of life
That is, stories that affect the people.
The front page and its content
In many cases, the front page comprises politics, followed by different units that address various issues.
Consistency in coverage
There is some form of consistency in the manner stories are progressively covered.
Daily publications
There are plenty of advertisements.
Nation
Covers daily news of essential activities or happenings.
The coverage is subdivided into sections, each addressing a different thing or issue.
It progressively covers issues until it's no longer attracting the public.
Daily
Comprises several advertisers within which advertisements are done.
Weekly Standard
Covers weekly issues that have taken place.
Political issues are mostly covered, with economic and health problems attracting less attention.
Each edition of the newsmagazine tends to be different from the other part of the resemblance in the column sections.
Weekly
There are limited advertisements.
Interpretation
Based on this exercise, it was quite clear that both Weekly Standard and Nation cover political issues or stories, which has a direct influence on the community. The same also applies to mainstream media, but they only differ in the way the stories are covered; mainstream media covers the political issues with magnitude, hence possessing the ability to control matters. However, some problems in these newsmagazines are borrowed from Time magazine, which only covers serious issues that are worth addressing (Gentzkow, et al. 48).
Evaluation
Newsmagazines like the Weekly Standard and the Nation cover issues with a different perspective compared to the mainstream media. Despite the fact that the mainstream media may include the same news, newsmagazines do cover issues in a progressive manner (Gentzkow, et al. 53). Therefore, the primary goal for the newsmagazines is to cover issues with a different perspective other than the way the public might have perceived it. For instance, newsmagazines may cover for different issues in the form of debates but in separate sections. This implies that newsmagazines like the Weekly Standard and the Nation may shape the public opinions. To some considerable degree, it is vital for the mainstream media to cover stories from the newsmagazines to attract the attention of the public and enrich their viewers (Gentzkow, et al. 63).
Engagement
Based on this exercise, it is clear that Newsmagazines offer an in-depth view of issues, which cannot be provided by the mainstream media. Of course, there are some aspects of the community that often remain uncovered but are available through print media. However, with the help of newsmagazines, such aspects can easily be made available (Gentzkow, et al. 71). Therefore, there is a need to enrich the reading culture by spending more time reading newsmagazines to have a better or different view of a given story. Even though newsmagazines face stiff competition from the mainstream media, it should be clear that newsmagazines may shape or change one's perception of issues (Gentzkow, et al. 85).
Conclusion
In summary, newsmagazine coverage is more detailed compared to mainstream media. Based on this exercise, it was clear that there is a need to enrich the reading culture by incorporating numerous aspects that may not have been covered by mainstream media. Accordingly, the mainstream media should learn to integrate their stories with those of newsmagazines to enrich their coverage as well as developing a different view of issues affecting the community.
Works Cited
Gentzkow, Matthew, et al. "Competition and Ideological Diversity: Historical Evidence from US Newspapers." 2012.
