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

[J Cullen]

Some of you may recall that several years ago the Guardian looked 
into the possibility of putting out liberal-left version of the 
Economist for the United States. It already repackages some of its 
features along with selections from Le Monde and the Washington Post 
for the Guardian Weekly that has a circulation of approximately 
25,000.  According to the New York Review of Magazines, which as far 
as I know only put out one issue in spring 2004, Guardian editor Alan 
Rusbridger lined up Sidney Blumenthal to be its American editor, put 
out several prototypes with a combination of previously published 
Guardian material and original stories with an American perspective. 
It ran the mockups and prospectus past potential investors. They 
figured it would cost $50 million over 5 years to break even. The 
goal was 100,000 circulation.

Felix Dennis, who launched The Week, a news digest, in 2001, 
estimated that it would cost the Guardian more like $100 million to 
launch the magazine they were talking about. When the Guardian hired 
Albert Scardino as its executive editor for news and business 
development, he put the project on the back burner. Coincidentally, 
his wife is Marjorie Scardino, the head of Pearson Ltd., owner of 
half of the The Economist.

See http://www.thenyrm.com/000655.html

-- Jim Cullen