An assessment of the new Bloomberg Businessweek

Phyllis Fine of MediaPost critiques Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, noting that it  is trying to combine lessons from Web publishing with many of the traditional strengths of print mags.

Fine writes, “The mag’s art folks have done a good job of vamping up the pages visually, using clever illustrations and a variety of typefaces appealingly. For example, the cover for  ‘The Great Copper Heist’ features tiny, unsavory-looking characters in traditional thieves’ garb (striped sweaters, caps, five-o’clock shadow) attempting to grab a piece of the copper letters spelling out the story’s title.

“However cute that cover is, it’s somewhat misleading editorially. You expect a fast-moving, caper-like story, but the essential narrative (of how Dallas police attempted to stop the recycling of copper that’s been stolen from city essentials like power lines) is bogged down with too much explanation and too many statistics.

“Here’s a case where BBW needs to compete with the Web by emulating the best of long-form print journalism, which charms and entertains as well as informs. I’m thinking of magazines like Esquire, but consider also those great front-page features in The Wall Street Journal, geared to an audience that appreciates a stylish turn of phrase as well as the latest stock prices.”

Read more here.