Jonathan Stein, who posted this, is very observant. I don't think anyone else in the world noticed this pattern. Hats off to you Jonathan- keep up the great investigative journalism. I think Newsweek is doing it to mess with us subliminally.

I give them a thumbs up for aiming for "a look".

In design parlance, it's called "white space."

You can read about it on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_space_(visual_arts)

With today's magazines all crowded with images and text, they now appear as background noise on the typical newspaper or bookstore magazine rack.

White space on the magazine cover provides a stark contrast that stands out - in addition to the benefits of white space.

Why have vastly different styles to your magazine cover? That makes them less recogniseable to the people who want to buy it.

Wow... shocking exposé :P

what's far more disconcerting is when Newsweek's US cover is different from the Europe, Latin America and Asia covers as has been the case often of late. And every time the US cover is clearly more favorable to the Bush administration. Guess Americans don't need to know about Global Warming's First Victim or, god forbid, the truth about how we are "Losing Afghanistan."

The latter cover story, along with the scary looking terrorist photo gave way to a fluff piece on photographer Annie Leibovitz. Certainly this had nothing to do with the November elections two months away. Newsweek, being a news mag and all, wouldn't want to inform the American people or sway the elections.

But this is the same mag that recently wrote retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was "still unwilling to plunge into politics" as some Iraq study group members did when President Bush rejected their proposal. STILL? It's almost as if Newsweek was suggesting that the swing vote in the country's most controversial and partisan decision of all time, was apolitical. Never mind a career more political than most Justices which included running for public office a couple of times and serving as Arizona Republican Senate Majority Whip.

O'Connor is about as apolitical as Newsweek is a news magazine.

I was shocked to read that Paul would describe the Newsweek cover as beneficial white space. You'd think that in our day and age that we white folk would be ready to share space on magazine covers like Newsweek but I guess we still have a ways to go. So sad.