Since World Press Review has ceased publication (though the website continues, thanks to the efforts of publisher Teri Schure) there's a few thousand of us subscribers owed a refund, or something. The something turns out to be a subscription to US News and World Report, for the remainder of our subscription terms (and, of course, an offer to extend that which would be more attractive if I didn't have almost a full year to go already).

I haven't read USN&WR in years (except for the deeply flawed but nonetheless unavoidable best colleges and best grad schools issues), and I wasn't particularly impressed with the sample they sent. The closest equivalent magazine I can think of to WPR in scope and coverage is The Economist, which I read for a while in college: maybe it's changed, but when I read it there was little distinction made between reportage and editorializing, and I'm just not that interested in what they think. If I want free-market libertarianism, I'll read Liberty&Power, where Arthur Silber just did a brilliant deconstruction of neoconservativism as neo-fascism; nothing like that in The Economist lately, I'm sure.

So, a few questions. Is USN&WR worth reading, and why? The general weekly newsmagazine just seems like a waste of paper for someone who hears NPR most days, reads national and local newspapers and blogs. Isn't there a better alternative, or should I just get my money back and stick to the WPR website?