"A fresh start" for "The Week," too?

I like The Week. Based on an imported idea from Great Britain, it's a news digest printed on dead trees that at times feels fresher than anything I read on the Internet. It adheres to a strict, 48-page format where the same departments can be found on the same pages, week after week. As its editor Bill Falk recently explained, its 50/50 ad/circulation revenue split gives it more of a buffer against the vicissitudes of advertising sales.

But it seems economic pressures are coming to bear even on this magazine. Click that pic on the left to blowup last week's and this week's Week covers. Notice that this week's cover is a photograph. The Week, so far as I know from years of subscribing to it, has never used a photograph (see for yourself). Obviously, a picture would save The Week a lot of money every year in artists' fees. No word about the change in Falk's weekly editor's note (as always, placed at the bottom of page 3). I've got an email out.