Stephen Colbert's Newsweek takeover

What happens when a Comedy Central star guest-edits a news magazine?

Newsweek's decision to have Stephen Colbert guest-edit the magazine's June 8 edition "reeks of desperation," said Gawker. The newsweekly "recently underwent its second major design reconstruction in three years," and now it's enlisting a Comedy Central host as the first guest editor in its 76-year history. Newsweek editor Jon Meacham denies it, but this is just a "PR stunt."

And it will surely help Newsweek sell a lot of magazines, said Annie Barrett in Entertainment Weekly. Colbert says he'll sprinkle the June 8 issue with the "conventional wisdom" of his ultra-conservative TV character, "but insists much of the content will be treated with the utmost seriousness." What fan of The Colbert Report wouldn't cough up a few bucks to see what Newsweek will look like with Colbert in charge?

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