What’s the matter with Newsweek’s cover story on gay marriage? It’s the journalism, stupid:

It looks like Newsweek, in the face of an economic disaster, has decided to do the full monty, becoming an out-and-out opinion-oriented magazine.

The problem is: the readers never got the memo. Most people thought newsmagazines were supposed to be objective and have not been aware of the two decades of soul-searching about how to insert more opinion. So suddenly they wake up and this magazine that used to be balanced has come out of the closet as an overt opinion magazine. …

Most stunning was editor Jon Meacham’s defense of the cover story, in which he says “this conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism.” …

This cover may ultimately become known less for its significance in the culture wars but as a watershed in the history of American journalism.

Great perspective. Hat tip: getreligion.org