Evaluating Sources

Print-Friendly Page
Authors & Contributors

Back to Learn About the Publisher

To learn more about the general outlook of a periodical, take a moment to skim through it, noting the following.

• Editorials. In these, the editors, making no pretense of being impartial, set forth their views. In most magazines, editorials will be in a front section and may not even be signed, since the names of the editors are on the masthead, near the table of contents. If you can find an editorial commenting on a familiar issue, you can discover the bias of the magazine's editors.
• Featured columnists. Usually the job of a columnist depends on his or her voicing opinions congenial to the magazine's editors and publishers. But this test isn't foolproof. Sometimes a dissenting columnist is hired to lend variety.
• Lead stories. The lead story is usually the one placed most prominently in the issue; the cover of a magazine often reflects the lead story. If you don't have time to read the whole thing, skim the last paragraph, in which the writer often declares the overall message.
• Letters to the editor. You can often deduce the level of schooling and intelligence of the letter writers, and this will tell you something about the magazine's readers. Political positions aren't always easy to decipher from letters to the editor since many magazines, such as Time, strive to offer space to a diversity of opinions.
• Advertisements. Ads are usually a good guide to a magazine's audience. To whom are its editors trying to appeal? The many ads for office copiers, delivery services, hotels, and corporations in Newsweek, for instance, tell you that the magazine is trying to appeal to well-educated professionals.