Last week's news

I was going to say "The Economist" as well. They do some breaking news on their web site, but not much, and I wouldn't really go there for that. By the time I actually get the print edition, it's usually a bit stale in terms of the absolute latest, but the analysis and commentary is usually interesting to read.

Two stand-out features of The Economist I'd like to see emulated more:

1. No separation of op-ed from news reporting. Just-the-facts-Ma'am reporting isn't objective, it just plays coy games with selective quotes and straw-men. It's dishonest and, worse, it's wordy.

2. No signatures on articles, whether written by one person or the entire staff. The text is boldly honest, without worrying the author might never work again for saying the wrong thing. The paper itself holds the opinions, which lean different directions in different decades. This is okay.

Most blogs and have the first item down pat. But the second is rare, despite the easy collaborative editing that modern blogware offers, and the benefit of pseudo-anonymity for amateurs who can't keep a perpetually diplomatic tongue. A platform that nudges its community in this direction might be all that's needed.

(Just another company I'm too lazy to start.)

There's also newspapers that isn't as focused on analysis as The Economist, which release on a weekly basis. Some newspapers even have international or weekly editions like The Guardian[1]. It does seem like this was a lot more common before the breakthrough of the Internet.

Also I think there's an issue with the format. I personally enjoy magazines like The Economist more in print, while it's the other way around with daily newspapers.

[1] http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/

I used to read this quite often, but it was so short that each sentence-length "story" was too short to contemplate, and there were no links to in-depth stories.

Clicking on your example though, I was very happily surprised to see that they have corrected all of these shortcomings! I'm not sure when it happened, but Harpers is definitely going back on my radar.

[edit] On second thought, it is still as myopically US and frivolous news oriented as ever, nevermind. I'll stick to the economist.

Such analysis would be perfect as the paid part of freemium.

You want this perhaps: http://hnweekly.chibidesign.com/

The mainstream ones sometimes get Science or Tech details glaringly wrong.

There's a US edition as well:

http://theweek.com/home