Why I will no longer subscribe to TIME Magazine
About three years ago, I received through my college mail, an offer to subscribe to TIME Magazine at a great offer of $12.00 for the entire year. Although I had a subscription to the magazine during my early graduate school years and already knew about some of the biases of the editorial staff, I decided to take the offer anyway. After just three issues, I could barely tolerate reading the magazine. What I had expected was at least some critique or commentary on the policies of the Obama administration, its domestic policy platform, or even a review of its foreign policy. What I did get out of the subscription were stories that instead of focusing on real domestic issues, were all focused on pop trends, the latest fads in the green energy movement, and even a blistering and biased view of conservative principles that were sometimes complete fabrications or gross embellishments; straw man arguments that had to be created to make the administration’s attitudes, policies, and agendas appear to be more balanced than they were.
Instead of cancelling the subscription, I decided to let it expire and to continue to monitor the contents of the magazine. By the time of the mid-term election of 2012, there were no shortages of articles and editorials about the dangers to “progress” in areas such as green energy and jobs, alternative fueled vehicles, and even the economic recovery touted by the administration. What I also noticed was the serious lack of investigative journalism that I had come to know during my early graduate school years while the Bush administration was preparing for a troop surge in Iraq. As the subscription continued into early 2013, there was no serious analysis of the flaws of the Affordable Care Act, or even a serious effort to report on the administration’s troubles surrounding the Benghazi attack. TIME’s journalists continued to support the administration’s narrative that it was all caused by an obscure video, a story that not only insulted the intelligence of any clear thinking American, but also was already debunked a week before the issue even arrived in my mailbox. Had Benghazi happened under the watch of the Bush administration, I am sure that the editorial staff would have bent over backwards to discredit the whole obscure-anti-Muslim-movie reasoning for the attack.
By the time my subscription expired in the summer of 2013, I had become disgusted with what was being passed off as journalism. On the April 8, 2013 cover, the magazine heralded, “Gay marriage already won!” as if the editors of the magazine have the ability and credibility to make such a proclamation on behalf of the free-thinking American people. Within that particular issue, those that dare oppose gay marriage for any reason were lumped into the same category as Eugene “Bull” Conner and others who opposed civil rights for blacks. One editorial even heralded the development as being an important step forward for civil rights, rejecting medical evidence that clearly shows there is no such thing as a gay gene (isn’t it funny how the Left and Liberals only use science when it is convenient to their cause?). Instead of respecting the ongoing debate about gay marriage, its editors tried to paint those who hold religious beliefs about the role of traditional marriage as being bigoted, dangerous, and even narrow-minded in their thinking. Over the year of the subscription, TIME had become nothing more than another voice shouting about the intolerance of the conservative voice, a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party, and a public relations puppet for the Obama administration. At TIME Magazine, real journalism must truly be dead.
Instead of articles focusing on the real issues at hand, such as the continued weakening of the economy, the decline of American supremacy, and the then-brewing crisis on the border, TIME’s editorial staff continued to wage war against those who questioned global warming, the ACA, and redirected America’s attention to the many child-stars-turned-bad-behaved adults. By June of 2013, I called the subscription service of TIME Magazine and even offered to renew my subscription if I could receive the international edition. For those of you unaware, TIME Magazine has two separate issues it publishes, a domestic edition and an international edition. Unlike the domestic edition, the international edition actually had well-written articles about the development of the Obama foreign policy platform that included an evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses, discussions on how the European Union’s economic woes were contributing to the declining economic situation in the United States, and other such articles. I was informed that the international edition was only available to those with foreign addresses and that “Raphael” would be more than happy to continue my current subscription at the current rate…
It has been one year since my subscription has expired. Yesterday I did receive a phone call offering to renew my subscription at the previous rate, with a 91% savings off its cover price. Today, as if by some effort of planning by TIME, I received the same offer by mail, with the caveat of “we’ll be happy to bill you for your subscription…” To the editorial board of TIME Magazine – go back to doing what you did best for my parent’s and grandparent’s generations – go back to real journalism, keep your opinions to yourself (except the editorials), and report on both sides of the story. Until then, I’m not renewing my subscription.
Alan Simmons
Alan Simmons is an instructor of history at a community college in Kentucky. He has been involved in education since 1999 and has taught in post-secondary education since 2004.
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Alan Simmons
Alan Simmons is an instructor of history at a community college in Kentucky. He has been involved in education since 1999 and has taught in post-secondary education since 2004.