"The Nation" subscriptions surging

[LiviaOlivia]

August 17, 2005
Subscription Battles and John Bolton
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000904.html

I was stunned to learn this weekend that subscriptions to The Nation are surging. And while it's not precipitous, TWN has been told that subscriptions to the New Republic are falling.

It seems that The Nation has become the more credible "alternative view" political journal as of late -- and while I wouldn't count TNR out, the pro-Iraq War position of the magazine seems to have taken a toll on readership.

In the foreign policy arena, TNR has moved -- sometimes dramatically -- to the right, where the journalistic space is crowded, and perhaps The Nation has absorbed part of the Bush-frustrated centrists while maintaining its liberal base.

One person involved with The Nation told me this weekend in an off-handed chuckle, "realism has become the new liberal foreign policy ideology."

~snip~

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Call me surprsied... NOT

[TaleWgnDg]

2. Huh? No surprise. Because "The Nation" is the . . .

oldest continuous running magazine in the entire nation! All kidding aside. It was formed to combat slavery! Yup. An old tried and true anti-abolitionist periodical.

____________________________________________

edited to add:

Jeffrey Brown of PBS Lehrer's NewsHour interviews The Nation Magazine's editor and publisher Victor S. Navasky:


JEFFREY BROWN: The Nation Magazine is this country's oldest continuously published weekly magazine. Expounding the view from the left, it has a long, colorful, and often controversial history. But in an era of fast changing media and technology, what is the role of it and other journals across the political spectrum today, and in the future? A new book called "A Matter of Opinion" takes up that and other questions. Its author is Victor Navasky, the longtime editor and now publisher of The Nation. Welcome to you.

VICTOR S. NAVASKY: Good to be here, Jeff.

JEFFREY BROWN: One of the things that comes through most in your book is what a high-wire act it is to keep a magazine like The Nation going. What's the key to survival?

VICTOR S. NAVASKY: It is more a cause than a business.

JEFFREY BROWN: More a cause?

. . . more at . . . http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec05/nation_8-17.html (transcript, streaming video, streaming audio)

.

[O.M.B.inOhio]

6. The NAtion against slavery? But, but, but, Lincoln was a Republican!

;-)

[expatriot]

3. All those Air America ads?

They have that really good deal on Air America, the one Janeanne does the voice over for. Like x amount of weeks free or something like that.

[Eric J in MN]

7. I think the voice of the ads is Katrina vanden Heuvel ,

Editor of The Nation.

[HardWorkingDem]

4. How can I ask this....

I have been reading The Nation for at least fifteen years now and The New Republic since 1985. The last few years of the TNR have really bothered me and I wonder how much their coverage has to do with the agenda of Martin Peretz intead of good, Democratic politics.

Now, the tough question is, isn't there an ethical issue with Peretz guiding his magazine for a pro-Iraq war stance because he is Jewish?

[longship]

5. Oldest continuously published newsweekly in the world.

Published weekly since 1865.

Can't live without it.