The other week I read that ad pages at The New Yorker are down 26 percent and that in the last issue there were only 10 pages of ads in the entire issue. This news hit me in the gut because I was suddenly faced with the prospect of what our reading landscape would look like if Condé Nast decided to shutter its pet project. Magazines are being hit hard by this economy, but we still need to support the things we love; I’m making a plea here for you to be vigilant about visiting your favorite magazines’ websites and, where you can, find ways to give cash accordingly.
Since I’ve already written in this space about The New Yorker’s site, I’m giving The Atlantic’s site the spotlight this time around. The site relaunched in October as a newer, brasher and hipper version of its old self (relaunching the magazine and rebranding itself simultaneously as The Atlantic as opposed to the more old school The Atlantic Monthly), while still maintaining its lauded level of political reporting and commentary. With bloggers like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Andrew Sullivan, James Fallows and Jeffery Goldberg, and in-depth articles on subjects from Chuck Schumer to Virginia Woolf, The Atlantic’s website keeps you almost as engaged and informed as having both the website and the magazine at your disposal would do. All I’m saying is that when you have to cut corners, you don’t have to cut them all.