> Even in Mexico, the left has its newspaper.
>
> Questions to Doug or whoever wishes to comment.
It depends. There are several ways of looking at the answer to this question. One involves the cost of publishing and distributing a national newspaper. Another factor involves support of the publication by the target audience. Then there is the big elephant in the room--is a national newspaper the right medium in this era? Would a focus on TV or movies or games be a smarter investment of money.
Is there support for a national leftist newspaper? I think the answer is yes. We know that The Nation has a circulation of over 180,000, which is amazing given its financial problems of the 1990s and earlier. The Nation is a liberal magazine and draws on the large number population of liberals and progressives in the U.S. Are there enough radicals, progressives and leftists to support something like a revived Guardian? I think the numbers are there, but I think the culture of the left needs to change. Are we ready to put our money where our mouths are and subscribe to a publication. We talk alot about supporting the alternative media, but as an alt media publisher and organizer of a radical bookstore I just don't see the commitment.
There are several existing projects which may help us guage the level of support for a national left newspaper. On the on hand, there is Democracy Now, which is a wildly popular left media project which is heard on dozens of radio stations. On the other hand there are venerable left magazines such as In These Times which are holding on for their lives. Perhaps we should focus on print publications, specifically periodicals. The prospect for a national newspaper looks very dim if we look at the state of left magazine publishing. There are some successful small magazines such as Clamor and Left Turn, but their circulation figures are way below what a national newspaper may need to survive.
Then there is a the thorny problem of having the money to start up this newspaper. You are going to need money to pay writers, cover the overhaed of an office, and so on. You'll need lots of cash to publish issues until money starts coming in from sales and subscriptions. It's going to take some time to build up your subscription base. It will take even longer to get money back from newstands and bookstores. Much longer than usual than other publications because we're talking about radical bookstores who aren't timely with payments. The biggest hurdle will be your distribution system. Distribution costs are what keep new publications from challenging existing newspapers. You've got to fight for rack space in bookstores and newstands.
Chuck