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

J Cullen jcullen at austin.rr.com
Fri Aug 24 21:05:40 PDT 2007


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



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list