WTF happened to News 4U??
I recently picked up the local magazine News 4U … I’m sure you’ve seen it … It’s everywhere … I remember when it used to be in a larger format but times have changed so I can understand the smaller package it is now … but as I thumbed through the current issue I noticed something … maybe you have too … But first let’s rewind … News4u started around 20 years ago … Which in print terms, is a long time ago. Being around that long is something thats worth bragging about, I will give it that. They have survived when others haven’t … But, I remember when it used to be edgy and showcased not just what was “hip” and “popular” at the time but it also showcased the counter culture. What I would call “not Mainstream” … It catered to “everyone and anyone”. It had it all. It was an outlet from college kids and their bizarre cartoons, opinions and music to the underground clubs and also the “hip” clubs … Whether good or bad, it was in there for the people to read and enjoy … But how times have changed … In this “PC” society that we have to swim around in News 4U has adapted too … They no longer have “underground” comics or articles. .. They have all fallen by the wayside. Even poor Hank the Trucker became a “victim” to the “PC” and his services where no longer needed … So Basically now they are a “middle of the road” type of magazine … Keep it in the middle, nothing edgy and, of course nothing happens … It’s a watered down version of probably what it originally set out to not “represent”. It conformed … it “sold out” .. It lost its “mojo” … Well, unless you consider and ad about Lingerie too “risque”, that’s about the extent of the edginess it will do … So as I thumbed through the issue today, all I saw where ads … Ads where everywhere … so, not that I am a math whiz, I decided to dissect it and count the magazine, page by page and break it down … I would put it into two compartments … Ads & Articles … It was somewhat difficult to decide on some of them, whether or not it was an ad or an article but I did the best I could … and I came up with 26 articles … not bad for a small staff though … so it had 26 points of interest … So next up were the ads … I counted, and I counted … and I counted … seems like there were ads on every page … Now , before we go any further and I get slammed … Yes, I agree, ads do pay for the magazine … They allow it to be able to be given out all over the Tri-State for free … It cost to print them and to distribute them too… OK, point well taken, so back to the tally … So in the end I came up with approx. 86 ads … So basically only 30% of the magazine is dedicated to articles and places of interest and the other 70% of it are “ads” … That’s a lot more ads than articles … So, in conclusion, it shouldn’t be named..”News 4U”, it should just be called … Ads 4U …
