The Economist Magazine

The Economist, first published in September 1843, is one of the world’s leading international publications.  It is edited in London and distributed weekly to over two hundred countries world-wide with a circulation of over 1.2 million. It also has a website where selected articles and columns can be read.  Its mission is “to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”  To that effect, The Economist tackles international news, economics, politics, business, finance, science, technology, and the arts. The Economist is written to appeal to an educated audience, particularly business and government decision makers, so in that regard, the publication definitely takes a strong stance on current issues.

 This strong editorial stance is possible because this publication remains somewhat of an anomaly to both world leaders and their readership.  Strangely enough, the editor can’t be fired, because he is appointed by a board of trustees and cannot be removed without their approval.  That would be hard to do, because half of the publication is owned by independent shareholders and the staff.  Who, by the way, are actually referred to as correspondents because this weekly news magazine is not really a magazine at all, but calls itself a newspaper.  The correspondents, as they are called, don’t really matter either, because they aren’t given bylines or even recognized by the “paper” as writing for it.  Even the country of origin is suspicious, because even though it is published in London, over half of its copies are distributed in North America.  In fact, only 19% of this paper is handed out in England.  This prompts the rest of the world to refer to it as a transatlantic news source.  That’s okay with The Economist.  For a brief period in 1895, they changed their name to: The Economist, Weekly Commercial Times, Bankers Gazette, and Railway Monitor - A Political, Literary and General Newspaper. 

This sense of humor and dry wit is what keeps The Economist going.   By being ambiguous, irreverent and random, they are able to produce news coverage that goes far beyond what other weekly magazines can accomplish.  Anyone who is mentioned in the paper is never quite sure whether to laugh or be angry.  In any case, there usually isn’t anyone to go after anyway.  This tight-knit group of journalists is truly dedicated providing a long-running and biting commentary to the people in power around the world.

This is why that along with serious articles about free trade principles and political economy, you will find random obituaries and something called the “Big Mac Index,” which uses the popular fast food item to measure purchasing power in foreign countries.  The Economist, more than anything, presents a strongly intellectual, dryly humorous, and liberal view of the entire world, whether anyone likes it or not.  This is extremely evident in its features and opinion columns.

The magazine frequently criticizes public leaders and countries that are blatantly dishonest, which sometimes causes their magazine to be removed from news stands by the aforementioned dishonest leaders.  To balance this out, the magazine awards those who excel with its annual “Innovation Awards.”  The Economist also occasionally invites political leaders to write an opinion column of unique interest.  Special in-depth reports cover a particular business issue, business sector or geographical region.  The magazine also publishes a quarterly technology report entitled “Technology Quarterly.”

Finally, if you really want to find out what everyone thinks about The Economist and all of its coverage, the best place to look is in the “letters” section published in every issue.  There, the reader will find correspondence about everything from the ridiculous to the sublime, which probably suits the editor and staffers just fine.

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