Mark Forscher

Stephen Colbert is the first guest editor in Newsweek‘s 76 year history. From his guest editor’s letter, ‘Why I Took This Crummy Job’:

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. You’re reading Stephen Colbert. And for that I apologize. The last thing I want is to contribute to the corrosive influence of the print media. I prefer to yell my opinions at you in person.

But I can’t do that this week, because I am in Iraq… I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t the Iraq War over?” That’s what I thought, too. I hadn’t seen it in the media for a while, and when I don’t see something, I assume it’s vanished forever, like in that terrifying game peekaboo…

…I took advantage of my powerful new perch and published all my letters to the editor that NEWSWEEK had rejected, provided my Conventional Wisdom, took a red pencil to Meacham’s editorial foofaraw and took the bias out of the columnist bios. Most important, I sent NEWSWEEK’s reporters to find out whatever happened to Iraq. Unfortunately, this meant cutting the cover story they had planned: “Hey, Have You Heard About This Thing Called ‘Twitter?’”

The full letter is really worth the read. Also of note is the amazing back story on the last page of the issue. It’s a letter from Meacham edited and annotated by Colbert:

More:
Why I Took This Crummy Job by Stephen Colbert
A Reader’s Guide to the Colbert Issue by Jon Meacham
Whose Bright Idea Was This?
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