This week's cover. Will post first thing in the morning. pic.twitter.com/UIgR97sHS9
— jim impoco (@jimpoco) January 28, 2015
Alas, poor Newsweek.
Once the Pepsi to Time's print newsweekly Coke, in recent years the venerable publication was passed around more than your HBOgo password, briefly married to The Daily Beast in a doomed ceremony officiated by Tina Brown, then purchased in 2013 by IBT Media, a company that journalist Benjamin Reeves alleges has strong ties to a San-Francisco-based Korean cult.
Even Newsweek's relaunch under new management was fraught, with a first (online, it didn't start issuing print copies until later last year) issue cover story claiming to unmask the creator of Bitcoin, a report that's been aggressively debunked and left its subject plotting a lawsuit against the publication.
So what's left, I guess, except to troll? At least, that was how many responded when Newsweek's Editor in Chief, Jim Impoco tweeted their newest issue's cover from his — preposterously — verified (5014 followers gets you verified these days? OK!) account on Wednesday night.
It's amazing how antifeminist trolly @Newsweek has become @raduede. @jimpoco But let's remember: sexist covers aren't even new for the mag.
— Jennifer L. Pozner (@jennpozner) January 29, 2015
.@jimpoco: Cover is a great way to get a response but it's so disappointing. What an insult to the women of Silicon Valley.
— Hoa Quách (@hoamquach) January 28, 2015
.@jimpoco This is garbage.
— David Kaib (@DavidKaib) January 28, 2015
You get the picture.
But, according to Impoco, the cover was apparently a group effort, from a bunch of women!
.@jimpoco Honest question: how many women were involved in the creation and selection of this cover art?
— Robyn Swirling (@RSwirling) January 28, 2015
@RSwirling About 6.
— jim impoco (@jimpoco) January 28, 2015
The "about" is especially interesting. Does Newsweek have half-women in their office? Quarter-women? Do they have snails on staff?
If you're interested in reading a bunch more angry tweets about the cover, Mediaite's aggregated a lot of 'em here. But media site Fishbowl NY's Chris O'Shea was dismissive of these complaints, saying that "there’s no reason for outrage," and that if tweeters "read the accompanying article, they’d see that the cover is almost perfect."
And he's not wrong, in that the article the cover refers to is actually fine! By award-winning journo Nina Burleigh, it does a deft job of discussing the challenges women face in the male-dominated tech industry (as women have in many other male dominated industries throughout the ages, I will note before you accuse me/SFist of being "anti-tech").
"However, it definitely conveys that Silicon Valley sees women as objects, and that’s a big problem. Which is exactly what the Newsweek cover story explains," O'Shea scolds.
Whatever the case, we'll leave the last word to SFist pal Susie Cagle, as her animation seems to encapsulate Newsweek's entire bag quite neatly. Push play now!
— Susie Cagle (@susie_c) January 28, 2015