New Magazine Takes Contrarian Approach To News Analysis
Posted on: Monday, 12 May 2008, 18:05 CDT
The editors of the new magazine Dispatches, which debuts Monday, are taking a contrarian approach of publishing issues in quarterly installments and with a limited Internet presence.The magazine will be a compilation of analyses of world events, with each issue containing a central theme and featuring the work of distinguished journalists and authors.
A press release announcing the magazine’s debut states that the publication "is meant for those who savor the printed word and the timeless photo, from foreign-affairs specialists to students who want more than fleeting images on a computer screen."
Its editors, journalist and author Mort Rosenblum and photographer Gary Knight, aim to slow down the fast-paced delivery and instant analysis so commonly seen in today’s 24-hour news cycles and on the Internet.
"Rather than compete with existing newspeople, we just thought we would go deeper and, when possible, closer, and deal with not so much the what and who, but the why and what can be done," Rosenblum told Reuters . Rosenblum has traveled the world as a former Associated Press correspondent, and is also the author of the book "Escaping Plato's Cave: How America's Blindness to the Rest of the World Threatens Our Survival."
On his Web site, he writes that the deterioration in U.S. journalism, brought about by declining ad sales and demands for consistent profits, has left readers a dearth of sources for thoughtful analysis in dangerous and uncertain times.
The magazine’s flagship issue includes essays on the theme "In America." One entry, called “A Kashmiri in America: The Lucky Shade of Brown”, describes a trip through New Orleans and other cities by journalist Muzamil. Another essay, by The New York Times’ John Kifner, warns that Americans ignore history at their peril.
Also contributing to the magazine are travel writer Paul Theroux and journalist Samantha Power.
“While the magazine features a website (http://www.rethink-dispatches.com), it will not be the heart of the matter,” Rosenblum said during a Reuters interview last week.
"We're somewhere between Google and Gutenberg," he said.
"We really believe there's a place for the printed word."
Simba Gill, former chief executive of biotechnology firm Maxygen, has funded the new magazine, although Rosenblum declined to say how much he had contributed. Gill joined TPG Ventures, part of private equity firm Texas Pacific Group, in 2006.
At a price of $15, the magazine’s initial issue costs more than many comparable analysis publications such as The New Yorker and Harpers. Also unclear is the magazine’s marketability to U.S. readers, some of whom may not want to read occasionally unflattering portraits written by modern-day Alexis de Tocquevilles and edited by Rosenblum, who resides on a boat on the Seine River in France and an olive farm in Draguignan, near Nice.
"We're not really out there to build up subscription numbers," Rosenblum said. "If we sell a lot of magazines, we'll be really happy, but our goal here is to reflect this reality as we see it."
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On the Net:
Dispatches Magazine
Mort Rosenblum
Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports
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