Legal Commentary

Election Impact on Liberal Media

By Jeralyn

The New York Times reports liberal magazines like the Nation could see an increase in readers as a result of the recent elections.

Liberal magazines do well when the other side is in power:

The Bush years were good — very good — to The Nation. After operating in the red almost every year since it was founded by abolitionists in 1865, the magazine turned a profit in 2003. From 2001 to 2003, the magazine’s circulation leapt from 107,000 to 149,000 and kept growing. By 2006, it had reached its peak at 187,000.

I suspect (and hope) the same is true for blogs. [More...]

There is no doubt about The Nation’s credibility as a leading institution on the left. But liberal Web sites like The Huffington Post now have vast followings of young people and a certain cool factor — something many advertisers value over intellectual prestige.

...“The importance of being hot is very important to advertisers,” said Bill Falk, editor in chief of The Week, a magazine that aggregates news articles and opinion columns. ...The Nation, which Mr. Falk regularly excerpts, “sort of reads and feels like it is written by people on the left from the ’60s and the ’70s, whereas sites like the Daily Kos and Huffington Post skew much younger.”

I hope there's room for all to survive and thrive. "People on the left from the '60's and '70's" are not only still alive, they are part of a huge demographic of baby boomers to whom issues like health insurance, social security and taxes are very important. They also have children and grandchildren and are concerned enough about their futures to keep themselves current. Advertisers may not care about them, but perhaps like the Nation, donations, subscriptions, mobile device publishing and other financial models can keep them afloat.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 08, 2010 (boomark / email).