Where we are going together next
In recent years, our readers have seen this weekly continuously evolve. We鈥檝e added the global Points of Progress spread. We鈥檝e taken down the walls between US and World news and brought a livelier diversity to those pages. And we鈥檝e expanded our coverage of People Making a Difference and Global Newsstand.
But more fundamentally, we hope you鈥檝e noticed our voice becoming ever more distinct. We鈥檙e opening a window on the world that you can鈥檛 find consistently anywhere else.
Take this week鈥檚 cover story. Global poverty is falling in a big way 鈥� faster in the past 20 years than at any time in history. The rise of hundreds of millions of people into a world of literacy, connectivity, and enough to eat is arguably the biggest story on the planet.
What drives our difference is how we see you, our reader. You as someone who cares, not just about your own private circle, but about the larger human endeavor and its progress toward peace and prosperity. That may sound a little grand. But, really, when you think about it, isn鈥檛 that you?
So we鈥檙e taking what the Monitor has always done best and getting better at it. A few basic aims: We want to be so fair, so generous in our viewpoint, that you begin to understand even people you may not like. We want to be so focused on progress that we find legitimate counter-narratives to the fear that is so pervasive and so often inflated. And we want to link the news to the way you think 鈥� how you see yourselves, how you see 鈥渢he other,鈥� and the forces you see at work in the world 鈥� so you might begin to see how you could think differently.
In coming months, we plan to concentrate on bringing light and clarity to critical themes such as extremism in politics and religion, the inequality that is rising in high-tech economies, and the trust deficit that undermines government. We鈥檒l dig deep on these themes, because it will make both the challenges we face and the progress we鈥檙e making more coherent, clear, and comprehensible.
In the meantime, you will see some new features in this week鈥檚 issue 鈥� features we鈥檝e added largely because of what we鈥檝e heard from you.
Here鈥檚 a preview:
鈥�More-compelling graphics. Check out that soccer-ball-looking bit of data visualization with the Briefing on page 17. That鈥檚 a Voronoi graphic. Expect more alternative approaches to presenting numbers.
鈥�Voices of everyday difference-makers. We鈥檝e introduced you to hundreds of 鈥減eople making a difference.鈥� Now, through a partnership with Encore.org, an organization that promotes 鈥渟econd acts for the greater good,鈥� you鈥檒l hear directly from its unretiring members about the hows and whys of their difference-making work (see page 44).
鈥�A news-quiz crossword. Some of you may have just come around to forgiving us for dropping our earlier puzzle. Well, the game is once again afoot 鈥� this time with news in the clues (see page 46).
Some elements, by the way, simply don鈥檛 need recharging: John Yemma returns to this space next week.
You can reach me, as always, at editor@csmonitor.com. You can also follow and tweet at Clayton Collins, Weekly edition editor, at @CSMWeeklyClay.
