[lbo-talk] sketching an "anti-economist"

Chuck chuck at mutualaid.org
Thu Aug 23 09:00:58 PDT 2007


Jeffrey Fisher wrote:


> Right. My point is just that I think the Nation is saying that when you have
> a ratebase around 2-3M (which will mean a much, much higher circulation,
> iiuc), you get treated differently from the mags with circs under a million,
> or maybe under 500k, I don't know. Yes, the Nation is much bigger than a lot
> of smaller magazines, but that doesn't mitigate the point they're making a
> whit that I can see.

Right. I should read that article that was cited here yesterday to see if it explains this well. If I run across anything else that explains how the big one benefit from the new postal regulations, I'll share.

I picked up the very last issue of Punk Planet a few days ago. That excellent magazine will be missed. The issue has a good article about the collapse of IPA and the effect that is having on alternative magazines.

Over the past year, Clamor, LiP, Punk Planet, Kitchen Sink and several other magazines have ceased publication or announced that they were closing. The website New Standard closed in April. I see that Bitch is still publishing, but they have a huge shortfall of tens of thousands from the IPA collapse. Earth First journal is going to move from magazine format back to tabloid format.

I know of a few other publications which have decided to stop publication and haven't announced yet.

It's a dire time for the alternative media, but the causes are varied. Many of these publications were directly torpedoed by the IPA and Clamor closings. Higher postal rates and other costs have been factors. The changing magazine market is a significant factor. Finally, some of these publications are just seeing the end of their natural runs, like Punk Planet, with their main editors simply wanting to move on to new projects or a long vacation.

Chuck



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