Reason (magazine)

Reason
October 2012 issue of Reason
Editor-in-Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward
Categories general interest, public policy
Frequency 11 issues annually
Circulation 50,000
First issue May 1968 (1968-05)
Company Reason Foundation
Country United States
Language English
Website reason.com
OCLC number 818916200

Reason is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation.[1] The magazine has a circulation of around 50,000[2] and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.[3][4]

History

Reason was founded in 1968 by Lanny Friedlander (1947–2011)[2][5] as a more-or-less monthly mimeographed publication. In 1970 it was purchased by Robert W. Poole, Jr., Manuel S. Klausner, and Tibor R. Machan, who set it on a more regular publishing schedule.[5] As the monthly print magazine of "free minds and free markets", it covers politics, culture, and ideas with a mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews.

During the 1970s and 80s, the magazine's contributors included Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, Thomas Szasz and Thomas Sowell.[6] In 1978, Poole, Klausner, and Machan created the associated Reason Foundation, in order to expand the magazine's ideas into policy research.[5] Marty Zupan joined Reason in 1975, and served through the 1980s as managing editor and editor-in-chief, leaving in 1989.[7]

Virginia Postrel was editor-in-chief of the magazine from July 1989 to January 2000. She founded the magazine's website in 1995.[8] Nick Gillespie became editor-in-chief in 2000.[9] Erik Spiekermann, the designer of the Meta typeface, headed a redesign of Reason in 2001, aiming for a look that is "cleaner, more modern, making use of the Meta typeface throughout".

In June 2004, subscribers to Reason magazine received a personalized issue that had their name, and a satellite photo of their home or workplace on the cover. The concept was to demonstrate the power of public databases, as well as the customized printing capabilities of Xeikon's printer, according to then editor-in-chief Nick Gillespie.[10] The move was seen by David Carr of The New York Times as "the ultimate in customized publishing", as well as "a remarkable demonstration of the growing number of ways databases can be harnessed."[10]

In 2008, Reason's web site[11] was named a Webby Award Honoree in the magazine category.[12] That same year, Matt Welch became magazine's editor-in-chief, with Gillespie becoming editor-in-chief of reason.tv.[9] In 2011, Gillespie and Welch published The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America.[13]

Katherine Mangu-Ward became the magazine's editor-in-chief in June 2016, with Welch moving to an editor-at-large position.[14] Other Reason editors include Jacob Sullum, Jesse Walker, Brian Doherty, Peter Suderman, and Damon Root; contributors include Ronald Bailey, Greg Beato, Cathy Young, and cartoonist Peter Bagge.

In 2017, Reason Magazine began hosting the Volokh Conspiracy, a blog run by libertarian and conservative law professors led by Eugene Volokh.

Funding and partners

Reason Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by donations and sale of its publications.[15] Its largest donors are the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation ($1,522,212) and the Sarah Scaife Foundation ($2,016,000), according to disclosures.[16] Other major donors are Donors Trust and Donors Capitol Fund, which in turn do not reveal their donors.[17] The Reason Foundation is part of the libertarian Atlas Network,[17][18], the State Policy Network and ALEC.[17]

In 2013, the independent rating group Charity Navigator rated the foundation four out of four stars.[19][18]

Controversy

David Koch serves as a trustee of the Reason Foundation,[20] and has been criticized for requiring those who publish to "obey his dictates".[21][22]

Together with a number of other Atlas Foundation partners, the Reason Foundation has received funding from Philip Morris. Reason magazine has published a number of articles writing favorably on tobacco issues, and senior editor Jacob Sullum has been supportive of the tobacco industry.[17][18]

Hit & Run

Hit & Run is Reason's group blog. It is maintained and written by the staff of the magazine. It was started in 2002. Then-editor Gillespie and then-Web editor Tim Cavanaugh, both veterans of Suck.com, modeled the blog in some ways after that website: they brought along several other Suck.com writers to contribute, fostered a style in the blog matching that former website's sarcastic attitude, and even the name "Hit & Run" was taken from what had been a weekly news roundup column on Suck.com. Reason editors referred to this co-opting of the former website as the "Suck-ification of Reason."[23]

In 2005, Hit & Run was named as one of the best political blogs by Playboy.[24]

Reason TV

Reason TV is a website affiliated with Reason magazine that produces short-form documentaries and video editorials. Nick Gillespie is editor-in-chief. The site produced a series of videos called The Drew Carey Project hosted by comedian Drew Carey.[25] Reason.tv teamed with Carey again in 2009 to produce "Reason Saves Cleveland," in which Carey suggested free market solutions to his hometown's problems.[26]

Since 2010, comedian Remy Munasifi has partnered with Reason TV to produce parody videos.[27]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Reason Foundation - About the Reason Foundation". Reason.org. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Fox, Margalit (May 7, 2011). "Lanny Friedlander, Founder of Reason Magazine, Dies at 63". The New York Times. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
  3. ↑ "The 50 Best Magazines". Chicago Tribune. June 12, 2003.
  4. ↑ "50 best magazines". Chicago Tribune. June 17, 2004.
  5. 1 2 3 Burns, Jennifer (2009). Goddess of the market: Ayn Rand and the American Right. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-19-532487-7.
  6. ↑ Williams, Walter E. (June 18, 1983). "Bringing Reason to the People". The Afro-American. p. 5.
  7. ↑ Doherty, Brian (December 2008). "40 Years of Free Minds and Free Markets: An Oral History of Reason". Reason. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Virginia Postrel: About". Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Reason Magazine and Reason.tv Announce New Editors" (Press release). Reason Foundation. November 27, 2007.
  10. 1 2 Carr, David (April 5, 2004). "Putting 40,000 Readers, One by One, on a Cover". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Reason.com".
  12. ↑ "Webby Honorees". Webbyawards.com. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  13. ↑ The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America. ISBN 978-1586489380.
  14. ↑ Warren, James (June 17, 2016). "Reason's new editor on politics, intern life and leading the magazine into its next 50 years". Poynter. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  15. ↑ "About the Reason Foundation". Reason Foundation. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  16. ↑ Stewart, James B. (June 13, 2012). "How Broccoli Landed on Supreme Court Menu". New York Times.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Reason Foundation - SourceWatch". www.sourcewatch.org. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  18. 1 2 3 Smith, Julia; Thompson, Sheryl; Lee, Kelley (2016-01-01). "The atlas network: a "strategic ally" of the tobacco industry". The International Journal of Health Planning and Management: n/a–n/a. doi:10.1002/hpm.2351. ISSN 1099-1751.
  19. ↑ "Charity Rating". Charity Navigator. Also see "GuideStar Summary". GuideStar.
  20. ↑ "Reason Trustees and Officers". reason.org. January 1, 2010. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Murray and the Rothbardians versus the Koch Brothers". www.economicpolicyjournal.com. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  22. ↑ Ganz, John (2017-09-19). "Perspective | Libertarians have more in common with the alt-right than they want you to think". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  23. ↑ Cotts, Cynthia (January 21, 2003). "A Marriage Made Online: How 'Reason' Came to 'Suck'". The Village Voice.
  24. ↑ "Top 10 Political Blogs". Playboy. November 2006.
  25. ↑ "About Reason.tv". Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Reason Foundation on Reason Saves Cleveland". Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  27. ↑ McDonough, Megan (August 7, 2013). "Remy Munasifi: From 'Arlington Rap' to opening for Ron Paul". Washington Post. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  • Official website
  • Reason TV's channel on YouTube
  • "Wired founder helps Reason".
  • Reason Feb. 1976: Special Revisionism Issue
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