Washington Post - December 13, 2001
Trouble on the Left By Lloyd Grove Washington Post Staff Writer
The American Prospect was launched in 1990 as a staid liberal quarterly, and two years ago tried to remake itself as a buzzy biweekly, celebrating the change with a flashy cocktail party at the Kalorama manse of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). But now it's in turmoil.
On Tuesday, senior editor Ana Marie Cox was fired after only six weeks. It was the latest in a series of staff purges and defections at the nonprofit magazine, which has received, in addition to other grants, about $10 million from the Florence and John Schumann Foundation, headed by public television icon Bill Moyers.
Prospect president and founding editor Robert Kuttner flew here from his Boston headquarters to defenestrate Cox. We hear that Kuttner referred to notes on a legal pad as he told the editor that she was "not being civil" and had improperly changed the copy of senior writers -- i.e., Kuttner -- "without due process." We hear that Kuttner was also angry that last week, during an editorial lunch he did not attend, Cox had jokingly called him "Crazy Bob."
The axing prompted contributing writers Thomas Frank, Ken Silverstein and Chris Lehmann (Cox's husband and an editor at The Post's Book World) to withdraw their articles from the upcoming issue. In further fallout, we hear that managing editor Lisa Hisel gave notice yesterday. Hisel didn't return our phone call, but Cox told us: "I am very sad about leaving. I liked my job and worked with some really talented people."
Prospect spokesman Michael Kaminer said: "The American Prospect doesn't comment on personnel matters." But Kuttner told us: "Other than to confirm that Ana Marie is no longer senior editor, I have no comment. Ana Marie is free to characterize this however she wishes."
Moyers, who as president of the Schumann Foundation dispenses around $8 million a year to nonprofit media outlets, told us he's unaware of any problems at the Prospect, one of his foundation's bigger beneficiaries. "Magazines go through transitions from time to time -- sometimes turbulent transitions," Moyers said, noting that the foundation money was contingent on the magazine moving from Boston to Washington. "I think they've really improved their Washington presence."