The Economist Magazine Cover For 07/27/2024

The Economist Read in browser JULY 27TH 2024 How we chose this week’s image SUBSCRIBER ONLY Cover Story How we chose this week’s image Insert a clear and simple description of the image Zanny Minton Beddoes Editor-in-chief We have two covers this week. In most of our editions we ask whether Kamala Harris can beat Donald Trump in the race for the White House. In Europe, as the Olympic games get under way in Paris, we look at how streaming media are changing the audience for sport. Ms Harris is still a little-known figure for most Americans, despite being Joe Biden’s vice-president. Since she all but wrapped up the nomination on Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans have been racing to define her—as either a young, strong, optimistic black and South Asian woman on the side of ordinary Americans or, as Mr Trump has it, a “radical left lunatic”. Our cover was an attempt to help readers decide for themselves. Here are those two visions of a waving Ms Harris looking a) vice-presidential and b) unhinged. The truth is that Mr Trump has plenty of damning material to work with from Ms Harris’s time as attorney-general in California (which, to many Americans, stands for homelessness, drugs and crime), her disastrous run in the primaries last time around (she was a poor speaker and took lefty positions such as wanting to ban fracking) and her part in the Biden administration (she is lumbered with his record on inflation and immigration). This idea acknowledges all that, by showing that Ms Harris has a long road ahead of her—though, as one of our colleagues pointed out, a blue carpet is hardly heavy going. Mr Trump will not have it all his way. Ms Harris’s task is to counter the Republican depiction of her and turn the focus back onto her opponent. Rather than letting progressives pull her to the left, she should put forward pragmatic policies that serve ordinary people. She can then say that Mr Trump is out to serve himself. An upbeat Ms Harris looking to the future will do well against a sullen, vengeful Mr Trump enraged about the past. This cover doesn’t do that. Ms Harris is too far away: this is the week to give her a closer look. That is why we liked this more. For the final cover we added a lime-green homage to the many admiring “brat” memes about her—though some of our staff warned that we were straying into dad-joke territory and others unaccountably thought the design was a reference to “Star Trek”. This cover gets across the energy of Ms Harris’s first official rally, in Milwaukee on July 23rd, which was fizzing with enthusiasm. Gone was the awkward, unconvincing candidate of four years ago. Next to Mr Biden’s halting delivery, her words were full of vitality. After months of desultory campaigning, Americans at last have a race on their hands. As the Paris Olympics begin, the message to audiences (and corporate sponsors) is that in a fractious, divided world, nothing unites people like sport. The idea is inspiring—but, outside the Olympics, it is largely untrue. More typical are the NFL and Indian cricket league, which both make almost all their money at home. Our cover explains how that is about to change. The world as a golf ball is a lovely image, but it hardly screams “Olympics” at you. The gold medal is better, but it lacks the sort of drama that gets fans leaping off the sofa. Two shifts lie behind the belated globalisation of sport. The first is on the supply side, as sport moves from national broadcast and cable-television channels to global streaming platforms. The second is on the demand side. The biggest obstacle to a sport’s foreign adoption is that, unlike other forms of entertainment, audiences want to watch their home team, rather than the best one. But fans’ attachment to teams is slowly giving way to their devotion to individual athletes who have built planet-spanning reputations. This fantastic image has much more going for it. Women’s basketball is booming thanks to Caitlin Clark, a player whose performances have drawn fans who had never watched the game, let alone attended the University of Iowa, where she started. It helps that young fans, whose preferred medium is short-form video, are more likely than older ones to watch highlights and summary shows of the action across a league, rather than a single match featuring their favourite team. Again, though, basketball was far removed from the Olympics. We debated whether readers would make the connection between the hoop and the five rings, and feared that they would not. So we went with this idea instead. As the crowds melt away into anonymity, the stadium is filled with one individual fan’s enormous iPhone. For the final cover, we upgraded to the Stade de France and an iPad. As they globalise, sports will face a complaint once directed at other entertainment industries: that unworthy foreign content is pushing out treasured local favourites. However, as in music or film, sports fans should be free to choose. To compete, sporting organisations should heed the Olympic motto: time to get faster, higher, stronger. Cover image • View large image (“Can she win?”) • View large image (“Game changer”) Backing stories → Can Kamala Harris win? (Leader) → Which Kamala Harris is now at the top of the Democratic ticket? (United States) → A global gold rush is changing sport (Leader)