the dominant news magazines in the US were Time, Newsweek and Us News &World report. Back in the 70s and early 80s, Time seemed the more mainstream-lean-slightly-conservative of the three. Newsweek made great strides to compete and they seemed like the middle-leans-slightly-more progressive. US News tended to, IMO, try to stay in the middle, focus on news they could quantify--like their college rankings, economic trends, and the like.
Newsweek seemed the bolder of the three back then, stepping out of the slightly-leans-left space with frequent features that were daring for the time. They were willing to push the envelope a bit. I believe it all changed with the rise of Reaganism. There was no internet and the company's fortunes tied very strictly to circulation numbers and advertising dollars. WAPO owned Newsweek from the early 60s until selling it for very little (debt assumption mostly) in 2010 to The Daily Beast (TDB). The latter, in 2010, was a two-year-old and growing digital media company.
While TDB claims to be open minded and looking at issues from all sides, they very reliably lean to the right.
But, as we've learned, the digital world of media and their digital extensions (FB, etc), tend to attract a lot more eyeballs when they stir up or invent items that outrage those on the conservative side.
It is obviously much more complicated than this, BUT, the dumbing down of America has surely been fueled by the fact that people used to read news sources like Newsweek... now the masses can't be bothered to "read" to really understand issues. Largely they simply stare at a screen to find out what to be pissed off about each day. And the opinions on their computer or phone screens are well supplemented by Fox, OAN and others if they want to look at a TV screen for their bullshit fix.
Yes, Newsweek has become a right wing rag.
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