American Prospect Facing Closure

This morning the Huffington Post’s Michael Calderone dropped some shocking news: The American Prospect magazine, which for 22 years has been part of the gold standard for progressive journalism, is facing the possibility of closing. A pop-up ad on the Prospect’s Web site announces it will “cease to exist” unless it raises $500,000 by the end of May.

Harold Meyerson, the Prospect’s editor-at-large, confirmed the grim situation in a phone interview with Frying Pan News, adding that the magazine’s financial tailspin has been evident “for about the last three months.”

“The Prospect,” Meyerson said, “went through several business regimes that didn’t know the business side of running a magazine or how to raise funds. It’s only been fairly recently that [editor] Kit Rachlis and [publisher] Jay Harris have come on board and have been able to make a difference in the Prospect’s fortunes. But they came in with the Prospect facing a major deficit.” (Rachlis’ past editorships include Los Angeles magazine and the L.A. Weekly. Harris was Mother Jones’ longtime publisher.)

The Prospect publishes its magazine 10 times annually, and operates a well-regarded Web site.

“We are fully engaged in fundraising,” Meyerson said. “There’s a decent chance we’ll survive – and a decent chance we won’t.” He asked that readers who wished to donate to keep the Prospect running visit https://prospect.org/donate.