Periodical Ramblings (15)

 More Magazines We Soon May Be Missing
  In Periodical Ramblings (13) I mentioned that National Geographic was laying off its staff writers and more recently, among some news stories, I indicated that Reader"s Digest Canada would soon cease publication (see, Palewall (5).) Now, two more periodicals are in trouble and may have to resort to a cover such as the one above. It is from National Lampoon, but obviously the threat didn't work since it stopped publishing at the end of the last century. 

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
   The headline this time is, "Sports Illustrated Employees Left in Limbo As Publisher Faces Money Troubles," (Joe Reedy, AP, in the G&M, Jan.19, 2024.) The magazine used to be a weekly, then biweekly and since 2020 has been a monthly. The illustrations were excellent and the coverage broad, as the cover above indicates (although I admit that the European Court of Justice didn't declare that bridge isn't a sport until 2017.) 

It has been loosing subscribers over the years, as have other periodicals. A while back, for just a few bucks, they sent copies to me all the way up to Canada and I got the jacket pictured as a bonus. I have to be careful where I wear it since Washington had not yet changed the name of the team to the "Commanders."

      

Beware  of hedge funds and investors bearing brand names like "Trusted Media Brands", which is closing down Reader's Digest, and "Authentic Brands Group" which owns Sports Illustrated. Authentic also owns the intellectual property for Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and Muhammad Ali, all of whom are dead, but still making more money than Sports Illustrated. 

BUSINESS WEEK
   Another dreaded headline if you like magazines is, "Bloomberg Businessweek to Go Monthly: The Publication Has Not Avoided the Persistent Headwinds Facing All Print Publications," Katie Robinson, New York Times, Nov. 30, 2023. Business Week has been published weekly since 1929, but it will now be a monthly, albeit on "heavier paper stock for a more high-end look and feel." Bloomberg bought the publication in 2009 and affixed his name to it, as he has to many things. I suppose the name will have to change again. It was a readable magazine, even it you weren't much interested in business.

The Loss of 'Local' News
  It is unfortunate that such publications are disappearing. You may soon have to rely on "Sam on Substack" or even MM, if you are only looking for "freebies" and don't want to pay for solid research and good writing that has been edited and proofed.
   It is also the case that the loss of these magazines can have a 'local' impact and I have written often about the devastating loss of local newspapers. I am using the term "local" here to mean "Canadian". We generally think it is a good thing to have journalists embedded in the community and poking politicians about local issues about which they care and have been following closely. 
   Back about the time Bloomberg bought Business Week, I was in charge of a business library at a university which has a good business school and had very good libraries. I received a call from Toronto from the folks at Business Week, who wanted to know if I was interested in getting their entire collection, since they were shutting up shop and the journalists covering Canada would no longer be based here. 
   This has happened before and it is likely that good coverage of 'local' Canadian news has suffered.  The Times of London shut its Ottawa office in the early 1970s and the New York Times closed its Canadian news bureau in 1999. Perhaps good journalism can be produced from afar, or by a reporter passing through, but it is likely better to have a local observer who, for example, goes out drinking at the pub with some politicians and people in the neighbourhood. 

Sources (And A Bit More): That's Why 'Ramblings' Is In The Title!

  For more about Business Week: "Who Ever Said Magazines Need to be Ink on Paper?", Peter Coy, New York Times, Dec. 4, 2023. On the importance of BW, he notes: Business Week's editorials offered perhaps the most sophisticated Keynesian-style economic analysis of any mass publication, and its influence may have been disproportionate to its circulation, as it targeted an elite audience of businessmen." He is quoting, Professor Ranjit Dighe: “Business Week and the Coming of Keynesianism to America.” Research in Economic History 35: 25-57 (2019).
   The Times of London announced it was shutting its Canadian bureau in 1970, but that was delayed until 1971 by Canadian-born Kenneth Thompson, who was the chairman of the Time's board. "Times Decides to Close Bureau in Canada," Globe and Mail, March 31, 1971.

   The New York Times closed its Canadian bureau and moved it to Denver. The reason for the closure was TAXES. They were prohibitive: "During the 1990s , one American newspaper after another quietly folded its tent in Canada. In an exodus largely unnoticed by the Canadian public, The Detroit News, closed its Ottawa bureau. The Chicago TrIbune closed its Toronto bureau. The Los Angeles Times  moved its Canada correspondent to New York and The Wall Street Journal adopted an informal policy of not sending Americans to Canada." ("Why The New York Times' Canada Bureau Isn't in Canada: Canadian Taxes on Taxes Have Made the Cost Prohibitive. But the Story Is Larger Than the Times," James Brooke, The Globe and Mail, Oct. 4, 1999. 
   The Columbia Journalism Review explained the exodus in this article:  "Why Canada Is Shrinking: The New York Times  Berlin Correspondent covers Germany from Berlin. Its Nairobi Correspondent Covers Kenya From Nairobi. And Its Canadian Correspondent Covers Canada From ....Denver, Colorado." (by Dayna E. Simon, Mar. 2000):
" The Times joined the exodus last summer after paying $114,000 in income tax to Revenue Canada for its resident reporter. The sky-high bill results in part from "tax equalization," in which the company pays the tax bill that is over an above what employees would pay if they were working in the U.S. An American in Canada could be taxed as high as 52% when federal and provincial rates are combined. But, it isn't the higher rates that the Times objects to -- it's what happens next. Under Canadian rules the money paid for tax equalization is added to the correspondent's salary as income in the following year. Thus, the amount builds, year after year." Plus, the reporters didn't qualify for Canadian benefits. 
  This long tax digression is interesting, but provided only because Toronto may soon be loosing Tavares because of tax issues and therefore it has some relevance: "Maple Leafs Captain John Tavares in $8M Tax Dispute With CRA," CBC, Feb.7, 2024 and many other examples c. Feb. 2024.

  The basic point is, I suppose, that while the Internet has led to an increase in the number of sources available to us, we are losing magazines, newspapers and other reliable sources and are surely not getting any smarter.

The Bonus:
  Unfortunately, billionaires may not be able to bail us out. Here is another recent headline: "Billionaires Wanted to Save the News Industry. They’re Losing a Fortune. Time magazine, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times — owned by Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong — Are Still Losing Money," Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson, The New York Times, Jan. 1, 2024.