Magazine Reviews: Time

TIME is an American standard in print journalism offering both informative and entertaining pages. Being historically one of the best liberal news journals, TIME magazine is mainstream, fresh and consistent in its editorials and definitely, a supplement to the mainstream media. If you want to expand your knowledge and enhance your understanding of the world around you, TIME certainly meets your needs.

Being around since 1923, TIME magazine claims to be America's first weekly publication. Offering more than just a weekly news summary, TIME has consistently been an award-winning magazine on politics, business, science, society, and the arts helping its readers staying on the top of the news. Providing perceptive analysis of contemporary important events ranging from politics to technological achievements, and from business to scientific breakthroughs, TIME emphasizes on weekly news, current affairs, politics, and culture. In addition, with its well-experienced columnists, TIME keeps an objective stance in its political reviews, a fact that makes the magazine well respected to over 3.5 million readers on average per week in the United States.

Its name suggests the times we live in and the current events we go through. From a marketing perspective TIME echoes "The International Magazine of Events" suggesting that the magazine covers the global media market. However, although the coverage is indeed global, the content is greatly biased towards domestic events. Most media sources are lacking overseas coverage and worldwide coverage often takes secondary place compared to the coverage of domestic events. Only when the global event, such as in the recent events in Israel, is extremely important, TIME provides a worldly focus. Otherwise, TIME typically emphasizes on domestic coverage and in the latest issues it was all about the elections, inauguration and changing political times.

The coverage that is included in TIME is excellent. Photography and writing are both of the highest quality and the selected stories are covered in ample detail. TIME not only delivers the news stories, but it also delivers the background behind the stories and does so in a way that is easy to grasp. The current Israel/Gaza conflict is a great example. While on television we were served up with the headlines and images that sell, in TIME we got the full history of events.

If I were to categorize TIME's content I would divide it into four main sections. a) Briefing, which is a vibrant view no local and global events including People, Verbatim and essays by leading journalistic voices; b) The Well, which includes the cover story plus local and global business stories, and photo essays that form the weekly news coverage with extensive articles; c) Life, which is the informational mall for essential ideas ranging from law to health, society to technology, science to history, business to environment; and d) Arts, which includes profiles, reviews and cultural essays on the hottest in the arts, including movies, music, literature, fashion, exhibits and architecture. 

Personally, I find that TIME is consistently excellent both in looks and content. Except from its broadly recognizable red border and TIME logo, the magazine has changed its design and style. Its editorial remains sharp and focused on 24-hour news coverage, while I'm also excited by the excellent photos that anchor the articles. Also, well-experienced reporters and editors such as Nancy Gibbs, Cathy Booth and J.F.O. McAllister and columnists Charles Krauthammer, Joel Stein and Michael Elliott are always well-written and enlightening.

For me, TIME magazine is a valuable way to get more depth on a variety of global and national events with a balanced viewpoint. So yes, I would definitely recommend it.