Re: EW and do they care? Looks like they don't. :-/ In media, every publication/show has lines they will or will not cross and it's often dictated by type of publication: tabloid, consumer (mainstream), alt-press, legitimate news source, hard-hitting news ...
These formats also dictate the experience of the people they hire and how low they will go to sell their magazines and ad space. (And BTW, it's all about advertising dollars, not subscriptions – there is a saying in the business: subscriptions only pay for the ink.)
We all know supermarket tabloids that will print any crazy thing to get people to pick them up. (They must make more of their money in newsstand sales – they'd have to as I don't think they have many legit advertisers. ...it's been years since I've opened one.)
EW does have legit advertisers and we all know from the Limbaugh scandal, that companies pulling ads from a media source can have a profound effect. EW gets hits with a provocative article, but there is ALWAYS a risk that it will boomerang. If they printed hate speech, they'd get a reaction too and they could end up detrimentally harming the magazine's reputation and cause their entire revenue source to leave in droves.
The reason they want hits is to prove their traffic to advertisers. If they insult their advertisers or their advertisers' market in the process, they are not doing themselves any favors. Additionally, they need celebrity exclusives and interviews as part of their content. You continually bash them, they'll choose not to have any part of you.
MM skirted the line enough that the article came across as an idiotic attempt at humor, so even if advertisers found it distasteful and lame, it probably wasn't as egregious as the things Limbaugh said. Even if they were put off, they may just be shaking their heads for now.
This IS a hot button issue though and anyone who plays fast and loose with that kind of crap has to expect blow back. They could get in trouble with GLAAD very easily (it hasn't said anything either, so my guess was it was just along the line enough that they're letting it go for now). Only a guess, but I think they might have expressed their reaction in private.
