October 18, 2012

Newsweek has sparked conversation and controversy with a string of covers designed to boost sales. A selection appears below. BuzzFeed’s also got a great gallery of classic Newsweek covers.

Tina Brown’s first print edition featured Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the cover.

One of the most controversial recent Newsweek covers was this one of Princess Diana, as she might have appeared at age 50.
Tina Brown said of this photo, “Michele Bachmann’s intensity is galvanizing voters in Iowa right now and Newsweek’s cover captures that.”
Andrew Sullivan wrote the cover story about “the first gay president.”
Niall Ferguson’s cover story — about why Obama shouldn’t be re-elected —  was contested for days.
Newsweek had previously called George H.W. Bush a wimp on its cover.
This cover was criticized for its hysterical tone.
Brown frequently featured women and issues important to them on her covers; but Virginia Heffernan wrote the story this cover promoted “illuminates nothing; it humiliates its writer.”
The stock art used for this provocative cover appeared on two magazines before Newsweek.
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