Magazine Profile

In this assignment, you should write a profile of a political magazine that, by most accounts, would be considered “alternative,” even radical. Some right/conservative possibilities are The Spectator, The National Review, and The Weekly Standard, and left/progressive possibilities include Mother Jones, The Nation, and The Progressive. There are many other possibilities you may consider, for example, magazines that specialize in women’s rights, labor politics, human rights and the environment. But I would like you to e-mail me the name and a brief description if you are at all in doubt. I want to stress that you should be looking to profile an expressly political magazine.

For this assignment, you should do the following:

1) Describe the magazine – it’s mission, viewpoint, readership, etc.

2) If possible, reveal what you can learn about the magazine’s finances. Is it supported by a foundation? Can you tell who the investors are? How specialized or general is the advertising it carries?

3) Analyze a recent (within the past two years) story published by the magazine, and explain how the story illustrates the magazine’s mission. Include a photocopy (or printout from online) of the article as an appendix to your paper.

4) Briefly discuss the importance of the magazine. Define importance in terms of the significance of the reporting it does, and not by the size of the readership. However, to the extent that the readership is clearly defined and is, perhaps, influential in some way, that should also be noted in terms of the magazine’s importance.

This assignment is due on March 18, 2004.

Recommended length: about 5 pages