Saying it right out loud

I had to cut a lot of stuff out of my Sunday column to get it to fit into the paper — about 10 inches worth. About par for the course, really.

But I thought I’d share with you one little parenthetical that I trimmed, because it raises a point about the difference between the press in this country and over in Britain. I had originally stuck this in right after noting that the cover of The Economist last week was emblazoned with the words, "Why America must stay" — which was also the headline of the main editorial in that edition:

(The Economist doesn’t muck about when it has something to say, the way newspapers on this side of the pond do. Its cover is always about its top editorial — or “leader,” to use the Brit jargon.)

I’m not necessarily advocating we do that sort of thing over here, mind. But I do like the frankness of it, and I found the point interesting enough to raise, for those of you not already familiar with this practice. The "leaders," by the way, all appear right up front — before you get to the news content.

One other point: Before you say, "But The Economist isn’t a newspaper; it’s a magazine," I should tell you that, all appearances to the contrary, that publication calls itself a "newspaper." And it’s an awfully good one, too, even if it does only publish once a week.

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