Editing USA Weekend (section)

==Overview==
The publication was incorporated in 1953 as ''Family Weekly'',<ref name=davis/> a [[Sunday magazine|weekend magazine]] intended for distribution with newspapers. By the mid-1980s, it was carried in 362 newspapers nationwide for a total circulation of 12.8 million copies, making it the third-largest weekly magazine in the U.S., ranking behind its main competitor ''Parade'' (owned since 1976 by [[Advance Publications]], which would sell it to [[AMG/Parade|Athlon Media Group]] in 2014) and ''[[TV Guide]]''.

The Gannett Company purchased the magazine from [[CBS|CBS, Inc.]] on February 21, 1985. After the sale was finalized later that spring, Gannett renamed it ''USA Weekend'' and designated 1985 as its founding year for promotional purposes and anniversary observances. Most of the newspapers that Gannett owned soon carried ''USA Weekend'' within their Sunday editions as their default weekend magazine.<ref name="Family">{{cite news|title=Gannett Gets Family Weekly|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E5DB1239F931A15751C0A963948260|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 22, 1985|access-date=December 28, 2014|archive-date=September 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905135744/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/22/business/gannett-gets-family-weekly.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

''USA Weekend'' focused its articles on social issues, entertainment personalities and [[pop culture]], health, food reviews and recipes, and travel.<ref name=portada/> In addition to ''Parade'',<ref name=davis/><ref name=parade>{{cite news|title=Star Tribune plans to dump USA Weekend, pick up Parade|url=http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2009/08/star-tribune-plans-dump-usa-weekend-pick-parade|author=David Brauer|website=[[MinnPost]]|date=August 19, 2009|access-date=December 28, 2014}}</ref><ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|title=Consolidation Coming in Sunday Magazines|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/business/consolidation-coming-in-sunday-magazines.html?_r=0|author=Stuart Elliott|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 11, 2014|access-date=December 28, 2014|archive-date=September 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905135625/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/business/consolidation-coming-in-sunday-magazines.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref> ''USA Weekend'' also competed alongside some Sunday magazines published for certain newspapers, such as ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]''.<ref name=nytimes/> The magazine also provided some newspapers with "Newspaper in Education" classroom guides for use by teachers.<ref name=nie>{{cite news|title=USA WEEKEND's Newspaper in Education Program|url=http://partners.usaweekend.com/nie/|newspaper=USA Weekend|publisher=Gannett Company|access-date=December 28, 2014|archive-date=December 28, 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141228165753/http://partners.usaweekend.com/nie/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Shutdown===
On December 5, 2014, Gannett announced that it would cease publication of ''USA Weekend'' with the December 26–28, 2014, edition and lay off 30 advertising and editorial staffers.<ref name=wrap>{{cite news|title=USA Today Shuttering USA Weekend Magazine|url=http://www.thewrap.com/usa-today-shuttering-usa-weekend-magazine/|author=Jordan Chariton|website=[[The Wrap]]|publisher=The Wrap Media, LLC|date=December 5, 2014|access-date=December 28, 2014|archive-date=October 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018151531/https://www.thewrap.com/usa-today-shuttering-usa-weekend-magazine/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=last>{{cite news|title=Last words: USA WEEKEND says goodbye and thanks|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/experience/weekend/lifestyle/2014/12/24/last-words-with-this-issue-goodbye-and-thanks/20432217/|author=Jim Lenahan|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|publisher=Gannett Company|date=December 24, 2014|access-date=December 28, 2014}}</ref> The shutdown was reportedly due to mounting distribution costs and a decline in advertising revenue (revenue for Sunday magazines through advertising buys had decreased by 10.9% year-over-year between the first two quarters of 2013 and the first half of 2014. ''USA Weekend'' lost up to $10 million in operating costs during the 2013 and 2014 fiscal years, which in previous years had resulted in the shift from the carrier newspapers paying a licensing fee to Gannett to publishers of these papers receiving a fee from the company for distributing ''USA Weekend'' (a structure that had also affected other syndicated Sunday magazines). As well, the supplement's circulation had declined, shrinking from the mid-2000s high of up to 70 million copies distributed through newsstand sales and home-delivery newspaper subscriptions down to around 18 million in 2014. For its final years of publication, the magazine had relied on writers and columnists from ''USA Today'' to help provide feature content for the magazine, after Gannett laid off several members of ''USA Weekend''{{'}}s writing staff.<ref name=davis/><ref name=wrap/>

The decision to cease publication of the supplement came one year after Gannett began distributing a seven-day-a-week supplement featuring condensed content from ''[[USA Today]]'' for syndication to the company's own local newspapers as well as partner newspapers owned by other publishers, with company executives said the supplement's ''Weekend Life'' section provided better content than ''USA Weekend''.<ref name=davis/><ref name=nytimes/><ref name=mutter>{{cite news|title=USA Weekend shuts as costs spike and ads tumble|url=http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2014/12/usa-weekend-shuts-as-costs-spike-and.html|author=Alan D. Mutter|website=Newsosaur|date=December 5, 2014|access-date=December 28, 2014}}</ref><ref name=adweek>{{cite news|title=USA Today Shutters Weekend Magazine - USA Weekend was the country's second-largest news mag|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/press/usa-today-shutters-weekend-magazine-161806|author=Emma Bazilian|periodical=[[Adweek]]|publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]]|date=December 5, 2014|access-date=December 28, 2014|archive-date=September 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905135637/https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/usa-today-shutters-weekend-magazine-161806/|url-status=live}}</ref> The end of ''USA Weekend'' left ''Parade'' as the only weekend newspaper magazine published in the United States. ''Parade'', which had only appeared previously in acquired Gannett newspapers to fulfill contracts with previous owners, has now returned to many Gannett newspapers as a replacement for ''USA Weekend''.