Goodbye Cruel World Press

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June 1, 2004 by Wendy Davis

Byline: Wendy Davis

When subscribers to the World Press Review received the 30th anniversary issue in April, they got a nasty surprise. The magazine, which journalists and foreign-policy experts scoured for local news and commentary from around the globe, had published its last issue. In a one-page note, Richard H. Stanley, chairman and president of the Stanley Foundation, thanked readers for their loyalty and explained that the family foundation was withdrawing its support.

For people familiar with the 50,000-circ monthly, it was a sad, but not unexpected, development. With virtually no advertising, the enterprise was never profitable, says publisher Teri Schure. And rising printing and paper costs had increased losses in recent years. "We were continually losing more and more money," she says.

The magazine compiled important news stories from publications throughout the world. "As the space devoted to thoughtful, incisive reporting of foreign news shrinks in the U.S. media, World Press Review has played an important role in bringing the perspectives of the rest of the world to American readers," said Schure.

WPR began in 1974 when editor Al Balk approached Max Stanley, founder of office-furniture maker HON Industries with the idea of reviving Atlas magazine, a compendium of news stories from international papers, that had been published from 1961 to 1972. It was a natural fit. Both men hailed from Muscatine, Iowa - Stanley had been Balk's boy scout troop leader and, like Atlas, the Stanley Foundation was dedicated to global multilaterialism. Max, and later his son, Richard, backed the WPR until, after a two-year review, the directors agreed "there was better use of resources."

The WPR was always a shoestring operation (managing editor Margaret Bald was paid $62,435 by the Stanley Foundation in 2002, according to the foundation's tax return). And the highest paid of some 50 freelancers who sent items from papers around the world made $100 a month, says Larry Martz, editor from 1993 to 1999.

Fortunately, it looks like the brand won't end with the magazine. Schure has purchased the Website www.worldpressreview.org and is seeking funding to continue WPR's work on the Internet.