Many in the village like to read Time, while some prefer Newsweek.
The Winslow family supports a variety of publications. I pay my subscription fees to Newsweek as does my daughter. One son’s journal of choice is Business Week while another prefers to read the Economist.
Time magazine, probably the most popular of all weekly news journals, was my publication of choice for more than 30 years.
Wherever I lived, be it in the north of the United States or in a foreign capital, I faithfully looked forward to my Time and its contents.
I always found the magazine informative, well-written, timely and even, at times, educational.
But I abandoned my old standby about six months ago when it upped and treated me wrong. My subscription was due for renewal last winter, and the magazine’s circulation department did just that, renewed without checking with me. A subscription price of $29 that was offered to the public was not offered to me. Instead, I was billed $80-plus to have my issues continue.
When I called the magazine to check on the obviously inaccurate rate, I was told that I could simply “take it or leave it.” So I left.
I then subscribed to Newsweek (for $20 a year) and have discovered that there is a big difference between the two magazines.
It may just be me, but I don’t think Newsweek’s writing is as professional. I don’t think its stories are as newsworthy, and I find it frustrating to see how often it prints “news” based on unnamed sources.
On one page of Newsweek’s Aug. 15 issue, one news fact is based on what “a DOJ official who asked not to be identified” had to say. Another is attributed to “a source close to Rove who requested anonymity” while a third quote comes from a Bush “family friend who asked not to be identified.”
On that same page a story on Iran included information from “U.S. officials familiar with the report who asked not to be named.”
Now I can understand a reporter protecting sources, but it seems Newsweek goes overboard.
After the sinking feeling felt in its editorial room when the publication was caught publishing a story that was later retracted, maybe editors are reluctant to man the wheelhouse and now rely on vague references to unknowns to keep the ship afloat.
Friends in the village surmised what might happen if The Pilot took such a tack.
Writing about car dealerships on U.S. 1, the paper could say 78 percent of Moore County is against the project because “a well-placed source in Wal-Mart said so.”
Reporting on county roads, The Pilot could headline a story about a new bypass being proposed to run from Eagle Springs to Eastwood, pointing out it got details from “an unnamed Lowe’s employee who noticed an unusual number of sales of concrete to one buyer”.
As for Whispering Pines, The Pilot could scoop the media with its report that a developer is planning to build an amusement park with swings and slides and rides on Airport Road bringing to a close any suggestions that the village does not look out for its young people.
The news, by the way, would be based on a “village grandparent known to be the most reliable of all rumor reporters.”
Another Whispering Pines story might report that 35 buoys will be placed in Spring Valley Lake next year so that party boats can shift their yak and snack nights to every corner of the lake. This Pilot “news” story, like so many in Newsweek, could be attributed to “a soused sailor who friends know is not all wet.”
In many ways I miss my old Time magazine. If I weren’t so stubborn, I would probably resubscribe and simply ditch my current news magazine.
If I ever do, you won’t find it out from me. But a “reliable lady close to the scene” might just pass the word.
Don Winslow writes about life in Whispering Pines. He can be reached at donwin@charter.net.
