U.S. News & World Report

For more information on U.S. News & World Report, visit Britannica.com.

Type: Private
On the web: http://www.usnews.com

Known for its annual rankings of colleges, hospitals, and mutual funds, U.S. News & World Report also has a ranking of its own. Its monthly publication of the same name is the #3 newsmagazine in the US (behind "Time" and "Newsweek"). "U.S. News & World Report" focuses on national and international news, business, and science, and boasts a circulation of about 1.5 million. The company also publishes an online version of its magazine, as well as guides covering subjects such as careers, travel, and investing. Real estate and media tycoon Mort Zuckerman (co-owner of the "New York Daily News") owns the company. The magazine was founded in 1933 as United States News.

Officers:
Executive Committee Chairman and Editor-in-Chief: Mortimer B. (Mort) Zuckerman
President: William D. Holiber
SVP Operations: Michael J. Armstrong

Competitors:
Forbes
Newsweek
Time Inc.

Incorporated: 1933 as United States News
NAIC: 511120 Periodical Publishers
SIC: 2721 Periodicals

U.S. News and World Report Inc. (USN&WR) publishes a weekly newsmagazine of the same title. It is the nation's third leading weekly newsmagazine, behind Time and Newsweek. Major sections of the magazine include "Outlook," a quick take on national and international events of the week; "U.S. News," often supplemented with national surveys and interviews with newsmakers; "World Report," an analysis of events worldwide, especially as they affect the United States; "Business," with an emphasis on data-analysis of economic trends along with profiles of business leaders and coverage of major business developments; "Science & Ideas," featuring forward-looking reporting on science and health topics; and "News You Can Use," a mix of practical information and enterprising stories. USN&WR also publishes annual guides to the best colleges, best graduate schools, best hospitals, best mutual funds, and other subjects. USN&WR is owned by Morton B. Zuckerman, the real estate mogul whose media holdings also include the Daily News (New York).

Beginnings

In 1933 journalist David Lawrence founded a weekly newspaper he called United States News. As the title implied, it was devoted to domestic news. It was the successor to the newspaper the United States Daily, which Lawrence had founded in 1926. In 1940 United States News was recast as a magazine. Following the end of World War II, Lawrence founded a new magazine in 1946 called World Report, which covered international affairs. As domestic and world affairs became more intertwined in the post-World War II years, the two magazines United States News and World Report were merged to create U.S. News & World Report in 1948. Lawrence served as editor of the magazine until his death at 84 in 1973.

In 1962 USN&WR became an employee-owned company, developing a family atmosphere for its workforce. The magazine, however, retained its no-nonsense, analytical approach to the news and did not offer entertainment features like its competitors.

In the early 1980s USN&WR diversified into computer-based publishing and a satellite transmission network. The magazine considered itself a pioneer in the technology of magazine production and distribution. It helped fund the Atex editorial computer system and led the industry in the use of digital scanning and satellite transmission of copy to printing plants around the country.

In 1981 USN&WR entered into a $200 million joint venture with Boston Properties, Inc., to develop 3.5 acres of land in Washington, D.C., originally owned by founder David Lawrence. Under the terms of the 50-50 venture, USN&WR would supply the land and Boston Properties the development. Boston Properties was headed by Morton Zuckerman, who had purchased the Atlantic Monthly in 1980. By 1984 a new 160,000-square-foot headquarters had been built for USN&WR on the property, with plans calling for such developments as a new Hyatt hotel, condominiums, and more office space.

USN&WR ended 1983 with a paid circulation of 2.1 million, making it the third most widely circulated weekly newsmagazine behind Time (4.6 million paid circulation) and Newsweek (3.0 million paid circulation). Revenues for 1983 were estimated to be $150 million, up 10 percent from 1982.

Diversification and Change: 1983-84

In December 1983 an unidentified bidder offered $100 million to purchase the magazine, four times the appraised equity value. With 60,000 shares outstanding, the employee-owned company had seen the value of its shares increase in the three years to $420 per share. A subsequent appraisal in early 1984 put the value at $625 a share, or a total of $38 million (1980 shares had been valued at $152 a share).

In February 1984 the directors announced the company was for sale and bids would be considered. In addition to the magazine and real estate, the company operated a typesetting service, newsletters, and a radio programming business. As financial information about USN&WR became public, it appeared the company was in weak financial condition and burdened by its Washington, D.C., real estate venture. Instead of earning net income between $5 million and $8 million, it appeared that USN&WR's pretax profits were about $4 million before extraordinary items or profit-sharing, and net income was around $2 million. One analyst had pegged net income at $7.5 million early in the bidding process.

Investment banker Morgan Stanley & Co. was hired to advise management on the sale. It set a minimum bid of $100 million for the company. Morgan Stanley also screened potential bidders by examining their financial condition. Final offers were due by May 11, 1984.

By June 1984 it was announced USN&WR would be acquired by Mort Zuckerman. In acquiring the magazine, Zuckerman outbid nine other competitors, who reportedly included United Marine Publishing Inc. (publisher of Inc. and High Technology), Hearst Corporation, Family Media Publishers (publisher of Ladies' Home Journal), and Gannett Company, among others. (Zuckerman later acquired the Daily News in 1993.)

Zuckerman's previous dealings with USN&WR, through his Boston Properties, may have helped secure his winning bid. Many of the other publishers who considered purchasing USN&WR were not experienced with real estate development. Zuckerman graduated from Harvard Law School and taught for nine years at Harvard Graduate School of Business. At the time of the acquisition Zuckerman said he had no plans to radically change the magazine's editorial direction. The sale was completed in October 1984 for a purchase price of $176.3 million.

Employee-Owned Company: 1984-89

As a result of the acquisition, employee shareholders received $2,842 a share for their holdings. Less than ten years earlier, in 1975, an employee retired and sold his stock back to the company for $65 a share. At the time he and other employees were satisfied with the price, but following the sale of the company in 1984, some 220 former USN&WR employees filed a $100 million lawsuit against the company, several former directors, and the magazine's appraisers, American Appraisal Associates Inc. The plaintiffs claimed they were entitled to almost $100 million from USN&WR and its profit-sharing plan, which represented their share of the proceeds of the sale.

At USN&WR, most of the employee-owned stock was held in a profit sharing plan, with the remainder held by individual employees through a stock bonus plan. Technically, the employee ownership structure was not an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), but the same valuation methods could be applied to both. Appraisers could choose to value employee-owned stock using a minority basis, which would be the value of the stock if only a minority interest in the company were available, or a control basis, the value of a controlling interest. At issue was whether employees who sold back their minority shares should receive the same price a purchaser would pay for control of the company.

While the U.S. District judge's opinion on a pretrial motion indicated he thought some defendants may have run afoul of legal requirements, in June 1987 he ruled the company's directors acted "in an entirely appropriate manner" and the appraisals were "perfectly reasonable and acceptable."

After the sale to Zuckerman, USN&WR hired several top editors to improve its senior editorial staff. Zuckerman commissioned Harold Evans, former editor of the Times of London, England, to develop an editorial plan for the magazine. Richard C. Thompson was hired away from Business Week and named publisher, while James C. Mason was also lured from Business Week and named associate publisher. Mason would leave the magazine in 1986, and Thompson assumed a part-time schedule in 1991.

In March 1985 Zuckerman selected Shelby Coffey of the Washington Post to succeed Marvin Stone, who had been associated with USN&WR for more than 25 years, as editor of USN&WR. Stone had resigned in January 1985 and was expected to be appointed to a position with the U.S. Information Agency. Within a year Coffey stepped down and was replaced by David Gergen. In July 1986 Michael Ruby was named to the new position of executive editor to assist Gergen. Ruby was formerly assistant managing editor of Newsweek.

In August 1988 senior writer Roger Rosenblatt was named to replace David Gergen as editor. After two years at USN&WR, Gergen wanted to expand his horizons. Among other things, he had been appearing as a regular analyst on The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour on public television. Under Gergen USN&WR's circulation rose to 2.36 million, the highest in the magazine's history. By comparison, Time had a circulation of 4.7 million and Newsweek 3.2 million.

New Ways to Deliver Information

In 1991 USN&WR created a new section, "Outlook," to provide a new look and a faster review of the week's news in the magazine. In May 1991 USN&WR launched a new magazine, Family Fun, in association with Jake Winebaum, a former senior executive. Family Fun was aimed at parents with children from ages 3 to 15 and focused on family activities such as vacations, entertainment, and at-home education. Winebaum was the magazine's publisher, and USN&WR provided production and advertising sales support. Within a year, Family Fun was sold to Walt Disney Company, with Winebaum continuing as the magazine's editor and publisher.

USN&WR spun off several book publications from its news pages. In 1991 a team of USN&WR reporters wrote Triumph Without Victory: The Unreported History of the Persian Gulf War, co-published by Random House and Times Books. Other books included America's Best Hospitals, published by John Wiley & Sons, and Letters for Our Children: Fifty Americans Share Lessons in Living, based on a 1994 magazine feature and published by Random House in 1996.

In 1992 USN&WR beat Time and Newsweek for the most ad pages for the year; USN&WR had 2,170 ad pages compared to 2,100 each for Time and Newsweek. USN&WR publisher Thomas R. Evans boasted USN&WR had a 34 percent share of the newsweekly ad market, up from 23 percent in 1985 when USN&WR was acquired by Zuckerman.

In 1993 USN&WR celebrated its 60th anniversary. With electronic delivery of information the apparent wave of the future, the magazine became available on CompuServe Information Service. It had negotiated to be on America Online, but lost out to Time. After two years on the CompuServe Information Service, USN&WR introduced in 1995 a comprehensive web site (www.usnews.com) that included a digital version of the magazine. The web site also featured video and sound feeds, hotlinks to other sites, daily live sound bites, regular news updates, interactive educational games, and more. In 1994 USN&WR had created a new video and multimedia production division, U.S. News New Vision. It also experimented with a new cover wrap to boost single-copy sales, which had fallen 14.5 percent between comparable periods in 1993 and 1994. Overall circulation remained 2.28 million.

Capitalizing on the reputation of its popular annual guide to colleges, USN&WR launched its first CD-ROM product, The U.S. News Complete College Adviser in 1995, designed to help students select a college and guide them through admissions applications and financial aid forms. USN&WR's Colleges and Careers Center web site was introduced in January 1997, followed by the U.S. News Getting into College Kit in 1998, which included a video, a guidebook, and a CD-ROM.

Fast Company, a new business magazine aimed at an audience younger than Business Week, was launched under the auspices of USN&WR in 1995. It was overseen by Zuckerman, Fred Drasner (president and CEO of USN&WR), and two former editors of the Harvard Business Review.

The late 1990s were marked by several top editorial changes at USN&WR and a move of its business operations, including personnel, finance, and circulation, from Washington, D.C., to New York City. The magazine's editorial offices, however, remained in Washington, D.C. The move reflected Zuckerman's desire to run all of his media holdings from the Daily News building on West 33rd Street in Manhattan. In 1998, Ira Ellenthal became CEO and group publisher for USN&WR, Atlantic Monthly, and Fast Company, and Stephen Smith replaced James Fallows as editor of USN&WR. When Smith, a veteran of both Time and Newsweek, took charge, he rehired many of the editorial staff who had departed when Fallows was hired.

In 1999 Zuckerman made several changes in a move to ensure USN&WR's future in publishing, dispelling rumors that the magazine would soon fold. First, he sold the 140-year-old Atlantic Monthly to Washington, D.C., millionaire David G. Bradley, owner of the National Journal Group. For the two decades Zuckerman owned the Atlantic Monthly, demand for its serious, intellectually stimulating content decreased, and it earned little profit. In addition to selling the venerable magazine, Zuckerman hoped to increase USN&WR profits by lowering its rate base (the amount of circulation guaranteed to advertisers) from 2.15 million to 2.0 million. While industry analysts considered this a controversial move because advertisers would still pay the same rates for lower guaranteed circulation, proponents of the plan said USN&WR could save up to $5 million annually. Second, to increase readership, Zuckerman hired Deutsch, New York, to design a new advertisement campaign. Finally, with the sale of Atlantic Monthly, the magazine strengthened its focus on the rankings of colleges, graduate schools, and hospitals.

At the same time of its redesign, USN&WR was plagued with more turmoil in the executive ranks. In November 1999, COO Kimberly Jensen was questioned about missing company funds, which CEO Ira Ellenthal believed were used to cover Jensen's personal expenses and finance the management of a rock band she represented. Nine days after the accusation, Jensen was found dead in an Ocean City, Maryland, hotel room, an apparent suicide. Several months later in January 2000, Zuckerman hoped to boost ad sales by reorganizing USN&WR management, moving Ellenthal from the magazine's CEO position to executive vice-president/associate publisher of the Daily News. Overall circulation of USN&WR was 2.07 million, a decrease of 5.7 percent from the year before. Also in 2000, Zuckerman sold Fast Company to Gruner + Jahr for $350 million.

Relying on Rankings

By 2001 USN&WR was looking for more ways to stay competitive in a media-drenched market. Increasing cable channels, web news outlets, and changing newspapers threatened the traditional delivery of hard news. The magazine ran more feature articles such as "The Adoption Maze," "Secrets of the Stutter," and "Alcohol and the Brain," in 2001. In addition to the change in focus, a new editor took the helm. Brian Duffy moved from the second position of executive editor to first in command, replacing Stephen Smith.

One of Duffy's primary responsibilities was to institute cost-saving measures to offset the industry-wide decline of advertising sales. As a result, USN&WR laid off 13 staff members and cut salaries by 10 percent. In addition, two double issues were published in early 2002, reducing the total number of issues from 50 to 47. Time and Newsweek still published 51 issues each that year.

The one thing that continually set USN&WR apart from its competitors was the enviable position of being in the heart of the beltway. With most of its editorial staff in Washington while Time and Newsweek were primarily based in New York, USN&WR reporters were in constant command of political gossip and breaking news. A popular section for readers interested in politics was "Washington Whispers," written by Paul Bedard. ABC News Radio contracted with USN&WR to run one-minute weekly radio segments called News You Can Use, featuring Bedard.

Nevertheless, proximity to the nation's capital was not enough to save the magazine from imminent decline. For most of the early 2000s, USN&WR fought through dropping ad sales and controversy. In September 2002 USN&WR and Zuckerman angered President George W. Bush and his wife when the magazine printed a cover story about the Secret Service, mentioning a pull-back of security coverage for the Bushes' 20-year-old twin daughters. White House officials contended the first family's safety was placed in jeopardy and felt misled by the prepublication conversations with Zuckerman.

Several months later, in February 2003, because of the magazine's Friday-night deadline USN&WR was forced to print a special "late" issue about a crash of the space shuttle Columbia, which occurred on a Saturday. Time and Newsweek reported the tragic story two days earlier than USN&WR. By June USN&WR was experiencing a sustained drop in advertising sales and was forced to lay off 12 editorial employees from its Washington, D.C., Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia bureaus. Circulation in 2003 was two million for USN&WR, compared with Time's 4.1 million and Newsweek's 3.2 million.

To stay competitive, USN&WR relied heavily on its special publications, which annually ranked the nation's colleges, graduate schools, and hospitals, and placed less emphasis on its print edition and more investment in its web site. As part of this repositioning, the magazine again reduced its editorial staff in 2005, laying off nine employees, including its chief political correspondent, Roger Simon.

The rankings, however, while popular with the magazine's readers, encountered broad criticism. In 2006 the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) completed their own hospital rankings and disagreed with USN&WR. JCAHO said 13 heart and surgery hospitals performed better than 80 percent of the hospitals on USN&WR's list of the 50 best hospitals and contended their process approach was a more accurate evaluation than the magazine's measures. In response, Avery Comarow, USN&WR editor of its America's Best Hospitals, defended USN&WR's comprehensive approach, telling Modern Healthcare in an August 28, 2006, article, "The unstated implication is that if a hospital can't do these basic things, they can't be trusted with complicated operations and that's a dubious proposition."

In addition, the magazine had to defend its popular America's Best Colleges reports when in 2007 presidents from dozens of colleges said they would no longer participate. The intentions were made public following an annual meeting of the Annapolis Group whose membership included more than 120 liberal arts colleges. The dissenting universities, such as Barnard, Sarah Lawrence, and Kenyon, expressed concern over the section of the rankings where colleges were asked to rate the reputations of each other. They also questioned the rigor in compiling the data.

With hopes of renewing confidence from its readership, the magazine was faced with another new editor. Brian Duffy resigned his six-year post, saying he was leaving to complete a book on the American Revolution. His successor, Brian Kelly, had been executive editor for four years and was a magazine employee for nearly a decade. Prior to USN&WR, Kelly worked for the Washington Post. In an interview with MediaWeek (June 25, 2007), Kelly explained the magazine's plans to continue its rankings service, expanding to children's hospitals and consumer products. In response to the colleges' criticisms, Kelly said they were designing plans to improve their systems for collecting data and added, "The rankings are for students and parents, not for college presidents."

Principal Operating Units

U.S. News & World Report, L.P.

Principal Competitors

Dow Jones & Company Inc.; Time, Inc.; The Washington Post Company.

Further Reading

Ahrens, Frank, "U.S. News Cuts 12 Jobs in Midst of Sales Slump," Washington Post, June 11, 2003, p. E03.

"Aid to Fledgling Magazine," New York Times, April 4, 1995, p. D8.

Alsop, Ronald, "U.S. News Suitors Will Be Weeded Out; Morgan Stanley Studies Their Finances," Wall Street Journal, March 16, 1984, p. 15.

Conn, Joseph, "U.S. News & World Report; JCAHO Study Questions Magazine's Ranking System," Modern Healthcare, August 28, 2006, p. 10.

Dougherty, Philip H., "Associate Publisher Leaving U.S. News," New York Times, October 10, 1986, p. D17.

Elliott, Stuart, "People: Thomas R. Evans; Richard Thompson," New York Times, September 16, 1991, p. D9.

"Evans Named 'U.S. News' President," Mediaweek, February 17, 1997, p. 3.

Finder, Alan, "Some Colleges to Drop Out of Rankings by Magazine," New York Times, June 20, 2007, p. A13.

Granatstein, Lisa, "Ellenthal Succeeds Drasner at Zuckerman's Mag Group," Mediaweek, October 12, 1998, p. 10.

Hevesi, Dennis, "U.S. News and World Report Sets Change in Editor's Post," New York Times, August 11, 1988, p. D17.

Huhn, Mary, "Zuckerman Plans Biz Book," Mediaweek, April 3, 1995, p. 5.

Jones, Alex S., "Putting a Value on U.S. News," New York Times, March 16, 1984, p. D1.

Kaufman, Leslie, "Zuckerman Reluctantly Sells Atlantic," New York Times, September 28, 1999, p. C1.

Kerwin, Ann Marie, "U.S. News Tries New Approaches to Focus Future," Advertising Age, October 25, 1999, p. 42.

Kuczynski, Alex, "Newsweeklies Turn a Cold Shoulder to Hard News," New York Times, May 14, 2001, p. C1.

Kuczynski, Alex, and Felicity Barringer, "An Executive's Puzzling Death Leaves Riddles at Magazines," New York Times, November 20, 1999, p. C1.

Kurtz, Howard, "One Secret Service Detail Too Many," Washington Post, September 9, 2002, p. C01.

Lipman, Joanne, "Magazines," Wall Street Journal, February 12, 1992, p. B5.

"Magazine's Business Moving to New York," New York Times, April 15, 1997, p. B8.

"Michelle Faurot (Becomes President of U.S. News New Vision)," Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, September 15, 1994, p. 71.

Moses, Lucia, "60 Sec. with Brian Kelly," MediaWeek, June 25, 2007, p. 28.

Reilly, Patrick M., "Two Publishers Plan to Launch Parents Magazines," Wall Street Journal, March 4, 1991, p. B3.

Schwadel, Francine, "U.S. News Publisher Is Considering Offers from Several Bidders," Wall Street Journal, June 8, 1984, p. 11.

Singer, Martin M., "U.S. News Tries to Boost Sagging Sales," Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, November 15, 1994, p. 27.

Steptoe, Sonja, "Suit Against Magazine Highlights Debate on Valuing Employee-Owned Companies," Wall Street Journal, September 16, 1986, p. 31.

Swett, Clint, "Technology Talk Column," Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, May 17, 1995.

"U.S. News & World Acquisition Price Cut 3.4% by Zuckerman," Wall Street Journal, July 30, 1984, p. 22.

"U.S. News & World Report Gets the Crown," Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, February 1, 1993, p. 13.

"U.S. News Buyout of Stock Was Proper, Federal Judge Rules," Wall Street Journal, June 23, 1987, p. 47.

"U.S. News Chooses Coffey As Its Editor," Wall Street Journal, March 19, 1985, p. 47.

"U.S. News Goes Online," Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, November 15, 1993, p. 14.

"U.S. News Is Expected to Announce Today Which Bidder It Chose," Wall Street Journal, June 11, 1984, p. 43.

"U.S. News Is Seeking 'Indications of Interest' in Acquiring Company," Wall Street Journal, February 21, 1984, p. 12.

"U.S. News Is Sold to Zuckerman; Developer Pays $168.5 Million," New York Times, June 12, 1984, p. D5.

"U.S. News May Not Be Such a Catch After All," Business Week, May 7, 1984, p. 32.

"U.S. News Names Ruby to a Top Editor's Position," Wall Street Journal, July 28, 1986, p. 22.

"U.S. News Retains Morgan Stanley & Co. After Suitor's Offer," Wall Street Journal, January 10, 1984, p. 42.

"U.S. News Scouts Ways to Raise Cash," Business Week, January 9, 1984, p. 38.

"Zuckerman Will Buy U.S. News," Business Week, June 25, 1984, p. 40.

— David P. Bianco; Updated by Jodi Essey&hyphen,Stapleton

U.S.News & World Report

U.S.News & World Report Cover
Executive Editor	Brian Kelly[1]
Categories	Newsmagazine
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	2,036,185 weekly[2]
Publisher	Kerry F. Dyer
First issue	1933 (United States News) 1946 (World Report) 1948 (merger)
Company	U.S. News & World Report, L.P.
Country	New York City  United States
Language	English
Website	usnews.com
ISSN	0041-5537

U.S. News & World Report is an American newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek, it has been for many years a leading news weekly, although it focused more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories. It is particularly well known for its ranking system and annual reports on American colleges, graduate schools and hospitals.

In June 2008, the magazine switched its publication frequency from weekly to biweekly.^[3] In November 2008, it was revealed that the magazine would become a monthly magazine, while most of its focus as a news outlet would be concentrated on its website.^[4]

Contents 1 Publication history 2 America's Best Colleges 2.1 Criticism of college rankings 2.1.1 1990s 2.1.2 2000s 3 America's Best Hospitals report 3.1 Rankings 4 Notes 5 External links

Publication history

United States News was founded in 1933 by David Lawrence (1888–1973), who also started World Report in 1946. The two magazines initially covered national and international news separately, but Lawrence merged them into U.S.News & World Report in 1948 and subsequently sold the magazine to his employees. In 1984, it was purchased by Mortimer Zuckerman, who is also the owner of the New York Daily News.

The editorial staff of U.S.News & World Report is based in Washington, D.C., but the magazine is owned by U.S.News & World Report, L.P., a privately held company based in the Daily News building in New York City.

Despite its lurid headlines, it conforms to the owner's political point of view, tends to be more conservative than its two primary competitors, Time and Newsweek. It also eschews sports, entertainment and celebrity news.^[5]

In 1995, its web site, 'usnews.com' was launched providing access to all articles from the print edition.

In 2007, U.S. News published its list of the nation's best high schools for the first time. Its ranking methodology includes state test scores and the success of poor and minority students on these exams, and schools' performance in Advanced Placement tests.

In June 2008, citing the decline in overall magazine circulation and advertising, "U.S.News & World Report" announced that it will become a biweekly publication, starting January 2009.^[6] It hoped advertisers would be attracted to the schedule, which allowed ads to stay on newsstands a week longer. However, five months later the magazine changed its frequency again, becoming monthly.^[7]

In August 2008, U.S. News expanded and revamped its online opinion section. The new version of the opinion page included daily new op-ed content as well as the new Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

America's Best Colleges

Main article: College and university rankings

In 1983, the magazine published its first America's Best Colleges report. They have been compiled and published annually since 1985 and are the most widely quoted of their kind in the U.S.[2]

These rankings are based upon data which U.S.News collects from each educational institution, either from an annual survey sent to each school, or from the school's website. They are also based upon opinion surveys of university faculties and administrators who do not belong to the schools.

The popularity of U.S. News college rankings is reflected in its 2007 release^[8]

• within 3 days of the rankings release, U.S. News website received 10 million page views compared to 500,000 average views in a typical month
• 80 percent of visitors access the ranking section of the website directly rather than navigating via the magazine’s home page
• the printed issue incorporating its college rankings sells 50 percent more than its normal issues at the newsstand

U.S. News also publish comprehensive college guides in book form.^[9]

Criticism of college rankings

1990s

Main article: Criticism of college and university rankings (North America)

During the 1990s, three educational institutions in the United States were involved in a movement to boycott the U.S.News & World Report college rankings survey. The first was Reed College which stopped submitting the survey in 1995. The survey was also criticized by Alma College, Stanford University, and St. John's College^[10] during the late 1990s.

2000s

Washington, D.C. region headquarters

Main article: Criticism of college and university rankings (2007 United States)

On 19 June 2007, during the annual meeting of the Annapolis Group, members discussed the letter to college presidents asking them not to participate in the "reputation survey" section of the U.S.News & World Report survey (this section comprises 25% of the ranking).

As a result, "a majority of the approximately 80 presidents at the meeting said that they did not intend to participate in the U.S. News reputational rankings in the future." ^[11] The statement also said that its members "have agreed to participate in the development of an alternative common format that presents information about their colleges for students and their families to use in the college search process." ^[12] This database will be web based and developed in conjunction with higher education organizations including the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges.

On 22 June 2007, U.S.News & World Report editor Robert Morse issued a response in which he argued, "in terms of the peer assessment survey, we at U.S. News firmly believe the survey has significant value because it allows us to measure the "intangibles" of a college that we can't measure through statistical data. Plus, the reputation of a school can help get that all-important first job and plays a key part in which grad school someone will be able to get into. The peer survey is by nature subjective, but the technique of asking industry leaders to rate their competitors is a commonly accepted practice. The results from the peer survey also can act to level the playing field between private and public colleges."^[13] In reference to the alternative database discussed by the Annapolis Group, Morse also argued, "It's important to point out that the Annapolis Group's stated goal of presenting college data in a common format has been tried before [...] U.S.News has been supplying this exact college information for many years already. And it appears that NAICU will be doing it with significantly less comparability and functionality. U.S.News first collects all these data (using an agreed-upon set of definitions from the Common Data Set). Then we post the data on our website in easily accessible, comparable tables. In other words, the Annapolis Group and the others in the NAICU initiative actually are following the lead of U.S. News." ^[14]

Some higher education experts, like Kevin Carey of Education Sector, have argued that U.S. News and World Report's college rankings system is merely a list of criteria that mirrors the superficial characteristics of elite colleges and universities. According to Carey, "[The] U.S. News ranking system is deeply flawed. Instead of focusing on the fundamental issues of how well colleges and universities educate their students and how well they prepare them to be successful after college, the magazine's rankings are almost entirely a function of three factors: fame, wealth, and exclusivity." He suggests that there are more important characteristics parents and students should research to select colleges, such as how well students are learning and how likely students are to earn a degree.^[15]

America's Best Hospitals report

For the past 18 years, U.S. News has compiled a list of America's Best Hospitals^[16] after evaluating thousands of hospitals across multiple medical specialties.^[17] U.S.News & World Report evaluates hospitals, excluding military and veterans hospitals, based upon sixteen specialties. To be considered one of the top hospitals, medical centers must score at or near the top (at least 2 standard deviations above the mean) in a minimum of 6 specialties.

In the latest 2009 rankings, 4,861 hospitals were considered of which only 174 were ranked in any one of 16 specialities. Twenty-one hospitals ranked highly enough within at least 6 specialties to qualify them for the Honor Roll.^[18]

Rankings

Rank	Hospital Name	Location	Points in specialties
1	Johns Hopkins Hospital	Baltimore, MD	30 points in 15 specialties
2	Mayo Clinic	Rochester, MN	28 points in 15 specialties
3	UCLA Medical Center	Los Angeles, CA	26 points in 15 specialties
4	Cleveland Clinic	Cleveland, OH	26 points in 13 specialties
5	Massachusetts General Hospital	Boston, MA	25 points in 13 specialties
6	New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell	New York, NY	24 points in 13 specialties
7	University of California San Francisco Medical Center	San Francisco, CA	21 points in 11 specialties
8	Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, PA	19 points in 12 specialties
9	Barnes-Jewish Hospital / Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis, MO	17 points in 12 specialties
10	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Boston, MA	17 points in 10 specialties
10	Duke University Medical Center	Durham, NC	17 points in 10 specialties
12	University of Washington Medical Center	Seattle, WA	16 points in 8 specialties
13	UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center)	Pittsburgh, PA	13 points in 8 specialties
14	University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers	Ann Arbor, MI	12 points in 8 specialties
15	Stanford Hospital and Clinics	Stanford, CA	11 points in 7 specialties
16	Vanderbilt University Medical Center	Nashville, TN	11 points in 6 specialties
17	NYU Medical Center	New York, NY	10 points in 7 specialties
17	Yale-New Haven Hospital	New Haven, CT	10 points in 7 specialties
19	Mount Sinai Medical Center	New York, NY	9 points in 7 specialties
20	The Methodist Hospital	Houston, TX	8 points in 7 specialties
21	Ohio State University Hospital	Columbus, OH	7 points in 6 specialties

Notes

1. ^ U.S.News & World Report Names Brian Kelly Editor
2. ^ Average Circulation
3. ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard. "U.S. News Plans to Publish Biweekly and Expand Consumer Focus". The New York Times. June 11, 2008.
4. ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard. "U.S. News Will Become a Monthly Magazine". The New York Times. November 4, 2008.
5. ^ "U.S. News & World Report". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/620229/US-News-World-Report. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
6. ^ "U.S. News Plans to Publish Biweekly and Expand Consumer Focus". The New York Times. 2008-06-11. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/business/media/11mag.html. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
7. ^ "Red Ink: 'U.S. News' Goes Monthly, Hearst and Rodale Cut Staff". MediaPost. 2008-11-06. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=94198&Nid=49092&p=966247. Retrieved 2008-11-06. 
8. ^ Putting a Curious Eye on a High School Ranking System" The New York Times (December 5, 2007)
9. ^ Amazon's listings of U.S. News "College Guides"
10. ^ Christopher B. Nelson, "Why you won't find St. John's College ranked in U.S.News & World Report", University Business: The Magazine for College and University Administrators.
11. ^ Jaschik, Scott (20 June 2007). "More Momentum Against ‘U.S.News’". Inside Higher Ed. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/06/20/usnews. 
12. ^ "ANNAPOLIS GROUP STATEMENT ON RANKINGS AND RATINGS". Annapolis Group. 19 June 2007. http://www.collegenews.org/x7131.xml. 
13. ^ Morse, Robert (22 June 2007). "About the Annapolis Group's Statement". U.S. News and World Report. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2007/6/22/about-the-annapolis-groups-statement.html#read_more. 
14. ^ Morse, Robert (22 June 2007). "About the Annapolis Group's Statement". U.S.News & World Report. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2007/6/22/about-the-annapolis-groups-statement.html#read_more. 
15. ^ Carey, Kevin. "College Rankings Reformed". http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/CollegeRankingsReformed.pdf. Retrieved July 28, 2009
16. ^ [1]
17. ^ Comarow, Avery (2008-07-10). "A Look Inside the Hospital Rankings". U.S.News & World Report. http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/best-hospitals/2008/07/10/a-look-inside-the-hospital-rankings.html. Retrieved 2008-09-15. 
18. ^ "America's Best Hospitals 2009". U.S.News & World Report. 2009-07-15. http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/best-hospitals/2009/07/15/americas-best-hospitals-the-2009-2010-honor-roll.html. Retrieved 2009-08-05. 

External links

• U.S.News & World Report – Magazine main website
• U.S.News & World Rankings – Rankings main website
• America's Best Graduate Schools
• America's Best Colleges
• America's Best High Schools
• America's Best Hospitals
• America's Best Leaders
• Best Cars and Trucks
• John Leo - Former writer of U.S.News & World Report

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