The McSweeney’s empire is ever expanding, whether opening writing centers for youths across the country, creating a DVD magazine or, now with their 33rd issue, showcasing a “prototype” for a 21st Century Newspaper. The issue features a 100+ page broadsheet newspaper, a 100+ page books section, a 100+ page magazine, a weekend guide and several posters. It includes reporting, fiction and art from the likes of William T. Vollmann, Chris Ware, Miranda July, George Saunders, Stephen King and many more.

They have a long preview up right now. Go check it out. The issue is only 16 dollars and available in pre-order.

The issue, I think, looks fantastic. More awesome contributors than you can count. Now, is it really a prototype for a 21st century newspaper? I imagine a lot of newspaper people will find it a bit patronizing to be told that they should be investing more in design and utilizing the print aspect of the paper when their circulations are falling down the tubes and they are cutting cost every corner they can to survive. There is also something unbalanced about spending 5 months on a prototype and comparing it to a daily paper.

Still, the big print newspapers have shot themselves in the foot so many times that they probably have to accept a bit of patronizing now and then. The normal plan of scaling back on design, writers, editing and every other qualitative aspect of the print newspaper and just praying that more subscribers has not worked. The few papers that have invested some money back into those aspects have seen benefits. Maybe McSweeney’s is onto something with a more design-oriented approach. It surely won’t work for all newspapers, but it might help some.

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This all tangentially reminds me of a great talk David Simon (of the magazine The Wire TV show) gave to congress:

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