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-- The Economist

The Economist

My dad has been reading this periodical religiously for longer than I have been alive, and I believe his views have become stuck in a certain manner and line of thinking that I can't exactly put my hands on. It is practically the only source he trusts.

So to the PDD, what are your views on this magazine, and what are your arguements for/against it. Give me some material to flame the last 20 + years of my dads life

Edit: I posted this after I said Nkunda is relatively an alright chap, and he gave "the fuck are you smokin" look....i dont read the magazine besides randomely looking through the headlines

It's a conservative (by European standards) publication, and views the world through an economic lens, which shouldn't be too surprising given its title.

It's hard to beat given how often they publish, but I've always found Foreign Policy to be a more thoughtful publication.

It's conservative because wealthy classes are usually conservative. The publications on Hamas which I'v read are blatantly pro-Israel so that kind of solidifies my views of its politics. On economics or science, I really enjoy reading it. I still read on the politics but I just don't agree with it 100%.

if you want to rag on your dad, why not just give him a hard time for having a narrow viewpoint that is dependent on only one source for information. I find the periodical to be a good read--the European viewpoint is a nice contrast to all of the American publications I read.

It's yellow-press journal if you are after political stuff.

It's very biased, basically it expresses only one opinion, the opinion of Anglo-Saxon world (US, UK and so on). Extremely narrow-minded view on all political issues outside this world. That's why it's a total crap if you want to get some useful info on what's happening outside the US/UK.

But, it's a good source of economic info.

I used to buy it fairly often (usually when going on a longish train journey). It's not that biassed towards the right, tho does lean that way. I guess in American political terms it's pretty central, in European political terms it's slightly right leaning. It tends to take an institutional line and doesn't really think outside it's political box very often (ie capitalist values, altho not their extremes, seem to be accepted as "is" and doesn't really venture away from that)

From what I recall, it tends to ask more questions than promote solutions, so the threat from "brainwashing" would be less than that of the more politically motivated magazines

Probably wouldn't buy it again, but mainly cos I got games on my phone now for long train journeys!

quote:

Originally posted by otec It's yellow-press journal if you are after political stuff. It's very biased, basically it expresses only one opinion, the opinion of Anglo-Saxon world (US, UK and so on). Extremely narrow-minded view on all political issues outside this world. That's why it's a total crap if you want to get some useful info on what's happening outside the US/UK. But, it's a good source of economic info.

An interesting take on the economist for sure. I keep forgetting that it is clearly very anglo.

I really like the economist and I find it 'honest' in general and clearly biased in a few regards. If I were to give it a slant I'd say centre left though, with a few issue specific discrepencies.

One slant that I've noticed consistently is toward a Chicago school devotion to free and open markets. I doubt that you could find any article advocating more market interference.

It's also noteworthy that there are no by-lines. The authors are as good as being spys and have the access to people and issues that only spys would have. I don't doubt that some of them regularily put thier lives in jepordy. The only thing that I know is that each reporter is responsible for covering three countries.

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Originally posted by atbell If I were to give it a slant I'd say centre left though, with a few issue specific discrepencies. One slant that I've noticed consistently is toward a Chicago school devotion to free and open markets. I doubt that you could find any article advocating more market interference.

That's very right-wing.

^^^^

But it's still only one issue and the intensity of the bias fluctuates.

It strikes me that there might be some amount of tention in the editorial office on this issue. Sometimes the bias is front and centre, quite clearly added in by an editor, other times it is less so, and on some occasions it is not there.

They aren't any where near Friedman in thier zeal though, that's just the direction the tend to lean.

All this being said, any other magazines you guys enjoy reading that are similar to the varied content found in the Economist (that I enjoy very much whenever I travel or have lots of time to waste).

Playboy

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Originally posted by malek All this being said, any other magazines you guys enjoy reading that are similar to the varied content found in the Economist (that I enjoy very much whenever I travel or have lots of time to waste).

See the thread about media sources.

I don't tend to read magazines as much as news papers and research papers.

When I am able I subscribe to the Economist, Foreign Affairs, and Adbusters.

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Originally posted by atbell Adbusters.

dropped that years ago... all you read is bitching and bitching with no or little solutions.

You could pick up any issue and 90% is the same as previous issues.

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Originally posted by malek All this being said, any other magazines you guys enjoy reading that are similar to the varied content found in the Economist (that I enjoy very much whenever I travel or have lots of time to waste).

I read Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and Washington Quarterly for international content, and I'll try to pick up The New Republic, The Atlantic, or The New Yorker from time to time for domestic content. The Nation is alright, but they wear their bias like a high school letter so take it with a grain of salt.

Foreign Affairs is biased american journal.

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Originally posted by otec Foreign Affairs is biased american journal.

unarticulated criticism is beautiful. However, the word 'because' is more powerful than you think.

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 unarticulated criticism is beautiful. However, the word 'because' is more powerful than you think.

because it expresses a single point of view on all the problems. no analysis is being done or even an attempt to look on any single problem they report there from out-of-the-box.

i suggest you to read http://www.rbcdaily.ru/ especially their political overviews to fully understand what I'm talking about.

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Originally posted by otec because it expresses a single point of view on all the problems. no analysis is being done or even an attempt to look on any single problem they report there from out-of-the-box. i suggest you to read http://www.rbcdaily.ru/ especially their political overviews to fully understand what I'm talking about.

me only espeaka da english.

while i don't read 'foreign affairs' i suspect it would definitely have an american slant being it is funded by an organization trying to further understanding of american foreign policy interests. i would also suspect that the journal itself is impartial, and the bias you are talking about is that of the authors of each article.

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 me only espeaka da english. while i don't read 'foreign affairs' i suspect it would definitely have an american slant being it is funded by an organization trying to further understanding of american foreign policy interests. i would also suspect that the journal itself is impartial, and the bias you are talking about is that of the authors of each article.

foreign affairs is pro-us. whoever writes there expresses only a single point of view, the US one. it's not impartial.

same goes for rbcdaily, it's 100% Russian.

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Originally posted by otec foreign affairs is pro-us. whoever writes there expresses only a single point of view, the US one. it's not impartial. same goes for rbcdaily, it's 100% Russian.

the council on foreign relations is an organization that mainly focuses on US foreign policy. nevertheless, i've read some articles by the CFR that are critical of certain US policy. Of the very few articles that i've read by the counsel, i found that they raise issues and concerns and potential solutions. comparitively speaking, the CFR is relatively impartial.

I've always felt that if you read time and the economist, you are going to get the best of both sides of the story. Although, the only reason i read time is because of the variety of articles in their magazine (ie i can read about psychology and politics in one issue).

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Originally posted by otec Playboy

They actually have excellent articles...
(and not the ones just with pictures...)

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