the more TIME's editors desperately want them to stay the same!
On a lark, I thought I'd check out who or was on the cover of TIME Magazine for my birthdate, Mar. 24, 1975.
Compare this with the cover from Jan. 31, 2005.
In complete fairness, it might not be the case that editors at news outlets like TIME (consciously or unconsciously) try to shoehorn every single picture or story into a predetermined formula. It could be that this kind of repetition only happens once every thirty years. It could be that the experience of the late 1960s - early 1970s informed the sharply ideological worldviews of the current editorial leadership at TIME. It could be that the space and formatting limitations of the cover (and inherent to the media format) prejudice some kinds of images over others, Then again, it could be all of the above, a... coincidence.
Whatever the reason, what these two covers represent is a stunning lack of imagination. Although no one will ever admit that news coverage is commercial speech -- or at least commercialized speech-- it would be nice to see "truth in editorial" laws, much as we find in the advertising and marketing world and in other commercial speech. Ironically, then, maybe then, we might actually get something that more accurately reflects the truth.
But, then again, INTELLECTUALLY LAZY just isn't as catchy as TIME.
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