Why?  In the case of Newsweek, rich media, and in the case of US News, the unbridled enthusiasm for making and pushing lists.  Time’s home page is static.  It reminds me of the front page of a newspaper:  Headlines, pictures, and a flash box that allows you to cycle through pictures.  The richest piece of media on the home page is an ad for Ontario’s University system (which I am glad to find out is committed to the commercialization of research, eh).

US News: The amount of pure news information that one can glean from glancing at the US News site is perhaps less than at Time’s site.  But one piece of content that attracts the eye is a scrolling horizontal banner almost directly in the middle of one’s screen.  Here are some sample items from that banner: Great Campaign Moments, Women of the Bible, Best High Schools, America’s Best Places to Retire, The Best Books for Business, America’s Best Leaders, and it goes on.  You can make a list of out anything, and US News does.  Smartly, they push those lists in a primary piece of real estate on the site.  Are you telling me that you don’t want to know the Best Careers for 2008?  Oh, and they also have a video player below this banner.  (This tells me that they place more importance on pushing the lists than their video….)

(After a short break looking at some of US News’ “Sacred Places“…did you know that Confucius taught his disciples beneath an apricot tree?  Makes me hungry.)

Newsweek: This site does what my favorite site in the world* does: It starts playing video as soon as you log on.  That engages me.  I like moving pictures.  I will probably watch it.  This site has a really nice feature, though, that when you click on another tab, the video pauses, so you don’t miss anything.  This way, Newsweek ensures that if I have any interest at all in the video, I will click back to their site and continue watching, rather than just listen.  In addition, the top left banner is a cycling flash object that puts stories into pictures…six in all.  I know you’re going to say that Time has one, too; I say, Time’s doesn’t cycle through.  It forces me to do that.  Am I intrinsically curious as to what’s there?  Maybe.  Newsweek satisfies my curiosity without asking.  One knock: the video application here is not tip top.  Could buffer/stream better.

In fairness, Time does offer video (in partnership with CNN), but on a totally different page, and nowhere is it really pushed on the homepage.
* My personal favorite site, for both business and pleasure, is ESPN.com.  Read it, love it, copy it.

Related story:  Time v. Newsweek v. US News on the Digital Newsstand