Readership: Food for Thought

The trials and tribulations of the newspaper industry have been well documented -- typically by print journalism itself. Other mediums have been less forthcoming regarding their travails.

Even among print products, newspapers are not alone. Serious magazines have fallen under stress. Newsweek is trying to reinvent itself. U.S. News & World Report exists primarily as a college ratings guide (which has deleterious influences, by the way). Fortune recently announced a reduction in publication frequency. The New Republic previously forfeited its status as a weekly.

A cultural moment occurred when Gourmet announced its demise. Gourmet pretty much invented food journalism, and while numerous other publications celebrate recipes and gastronomic style, Gourmet rates (or rated) as the most literary. The writing aspired to standards as high as those of Escoffier. The magazine was not stuffy, however; it celebrated basics as well as complicated sauces. And its day passed. American society is not as literate as it was -- not as appreciative of the beauties and subtleties of the written word. The so-called social media cannot convey metaphor. Hungry souls suffer unfed.

If for the most part the U.S. lacks a high-brow tradition, then some brows are higher than others. Among periodicals, The New Criterion and Dissent stand out. The Nation occasionally includes insightful criticism, as does National Review. Commentary magazine has slipped but remains very good. The New Yorker conforms to a provincial ideal of Gotham's cityscape and in often elegant prose reassures its readership's prejudices. Partisan Review was our favorite, but it died. The no-brow has won. The rout is absolute. At least Gourmet will expire with a toast of gratitude.