History of Newsweek

History: Founded by Thomas J.C. Martyn, a former foreign editor at Time magazine, Newsweek was first published on Feb. 17, 1933. That issue, called "News-Week," featured seven photographs from the week's news on the cover. It cost 10 cents a copy, $4 for a year, and had a circulation of 50,000. Newsweek was bought by The Washington Post Company in 1961. Today, Newsweek has a worldwide circulation of more than 4 million .

Newsweek holds more prestigious National Magazine Awards, given by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), than any other newsweekly.

Content: Newsweek offers comprehensive coverage of world events with a global network of correspondents, reporters and editors covering national and international affairs, business, science and technology, society and the arts and entertainment. Newsweek also features respected commentators such as Jonathan Alter, Ellis Cose, Jane Bryant Quinn, Robert J. Samuelson, Anna Quindlen, Stuart Taylor Jr. and George Will. Newsweek.com offers the weekly magazine online, daily news updates, Web-only columns from Newsweek's top writers, photo galleries, audio and video reports from correspondents, podcasts, mobile content and archives.

EDITORIAL Editor: Jon Meacham
Managing Editor: Daniel Klaidman
Director of Special Projects: Alexis Gelber
Assistant Managing Editors: Kathleen Deveny, Deidre Depke, Mark Miller, Debra Rosenberg, Amid Capeci (Design)

NY Staff: Newsweek's editorial staff, based in New York, is made up of senior editors and writers and general, associate and assistant editors. The editorial staff also includes head researchers, research-reporters, librarians, graphic artists, photographers and support technicians.

Bureaus: Newsweek's domestic bureaus are located in Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Its overseas bureaus are in Baghdad, Beijing, Cape Town, Jerusalem, London, Mexico City, Moscow, Hong Kong, Paris and Tokyo.

Sections: Newsweek covers a wide range of topics in National and International Affairs, Business, Science & Technology, Medicine, Family and Arts & Entertainment. Additional coverage is provided through "The Tip Sheet," a newsletter for consumers, covering topical subjects, such as health, money and travel. Regular weekly pages are Periscope, My Turn, Conventional Wisdom Watch, Perspectives and Newsmakers. My Turn is the only newsweekly column written by readers. Approximately 4,000 letters to the editor are received each month.

Other Editions
Newsweek Inc. also publishes Newsweek International in three English-language editions—Atlantic, Asia, Latin America—and is part of The Bulletin With Newsweek in Australia, with a combined circulation of 646,000. Newsweek appears each week in more than 190 countries around the world. It is the only newsmagazine with weekly local-language editions—in Japanese (since 1986), Korean (since '91) and Spanish (since '96). On June 6, 2000, Newsweek International launched Newsweek In Arabic (Newsweek Bil Logha Al-Arabia), and later in 2000, Newsweek Polska was published and is distributed throughout Poland. In 2002, Newsweek launched Newsweek Select, distributed in Hong Kong and in mainland China. In 2004, Russky Newsweek was launched in Russia, and in 2006, Newsweek En Espanol Argentina was launched in Argentina.

In 1993, Newsweek produced a CD-ROM sold quarterly by subscription and at retail outlets—the first such electronic publishing venture by a major magazine. In 1994, Newsweek went online on Prodigy and in 1996 moved to America Online. In Oct ober, 1998, Newsweek.com was launched. On June 19, 2000, the site entered into a joint venture with NBC, MSNBC.com and MSNBC. In October, 2007, Newsweek.com relaunched as a standalone site with a new design and updated technology. Since 2001, Newsweek.com has been honored repeatedly for its coverage of politics, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, global and homeland security and health and business coverage . In 2006 and 2007, it was honored as a National Magazine Award finalist. In 2007, it was nominated for an Emmy Award. Written by Newsweek's top correspondents around the globe, Newsweek.com leverages leading-edge technology to help shape its coverage. The site has set the standard for successfully integrating print and online content in the newsmagazine business.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go