Publishers' Page: "Oh, Yeah. The Green One!"

May/June 1991, Page 91

Publishers' Page

"Oh, Yeah. The Green One!"

Nine years ago, when the American Educational Trust began publishing the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs as a low-budget newsletter with black type and mostly green headlines, it was just one of hundreds of periodicals that reached the offices of members of Congress. When people on the Hill asked us, "which is your newsletter?" and we started to describe it, the answer above meant they had placed it.

Then Times Got Worse.

Later, we no longer could afford the green-ink press run. Then, the two-thirds of the staff who had families to support on the paychecks they no longer were receiving from AET started looking for other jobs. One of them, applying for a job with a congressman, was again trying to describe to him the no longer distinctively colored Middle East newsletter she had been helping to produce. "Oh, yeah," he said:

"The One That We Read"

When she reported that back it helped, and we needed all the help we could get. At that point, the publisher and executive editor were taking turns personally paying the printing bill each month. Do you have any idea what printers charge these days?

Believe Us, You Don't Want to Know.

We won't take you through year by painful year. For those who wrote AET generous personal checks during those years (and an ever-increasing number of readers did, or you wouldn't be reading these lines now), the rest of the story is familiar.

We Really Did Read Their Letters.

They told us what readers liked and didn't like about each issue. We really did listen to the people who sought us out to make suggestions when we were speaking at meetings, conventions, banquets, churches, Islamic centers and universities all over America.

And We Acted on Their Suggestions.

We went from an all-text cover to a cartoon cover to, in July 1988, the kind of cover you see on this issue. That issue of the magazine contained 40 pages.

"Every Issue Just Gets Better."

Now, wherever we go, that's what we hear about our present 96-page magazine. That's a hard reputation to live up to.

But We Will.

So why are we using all this precious space to tell you what, if you've been with us for a while, you already know?

Because Many Readers Are New.

There were 1,100 new subscribers for the April issue. There are something over 600 new subscribers for this one. Our magazine's total paid circulation (after deducting non renewals) increased by 35 percent in 1990.

It Could Happen Again in 1991.

This year's total increase depends largely upon how many of our readers give gift subscriptions to friends and families. And upon how many also help us with the critically important subscription challenge described in the last two pages of this magazine.

So Here's the Point.

Why did we get where we are? Because there is no other publication in the United States that provides either the viewpoints or the documentation for them that we do.

How Did We Get Where We Are?

We found the audience for those viewpoints and that information the same way as the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

We Bet the Store.

Every time we went to the printer we put the whole wad down on the next edition. The new subscriptions, renewals, and donations from our angels' choir each month paid to make each issue a little bit better than the issue the month before.

But It Barely Paid the Bills.

For an underpaid staff, it became a grim joke: "These guys think the only way to make a little money is to spend a lot.

They Were Right.

We certainly never got back immediately everything we spent on each new issue.

But We Were Right, Too.

Given our lack of advertising or promotion money, however, we certainly wouldn't have pyramided our circulation figures any other way. The consortium of business people described on the final two pages of this issue finally decided that servicing at a loss thousands of opinion molder subscriptions was going to pull us under financially.

Thus the Matching Grant.

They gave us a grant which would pay only the second $7.50 of the $15 cost of servicing each $7.50 opinion molder subscription. That way we would break even, not lose money, as our circulation grew. It enables us to expand where we should—right into the mail boxes of more congressional staff members, the media, the executive branch, the clergy, educators and libraries—but still get a check to the printer every month.

We're Abjectly Grateful.

However, we've also been brooding about it. How come we enjoy such critical success, and still lose so much money? We carried over a debt of more than $60,000 from 1989 to 1990. Then, after a 35 percent increase in paid circulation, we carried over a debt of more than $100,000 from 1990 to 1991.

Suddenly, Vindication!

We're feeling better this month, however, and a little awed. On April 29, The New York Times carried an article on the 125th anniversary of the founding of The Nation, a weekly magazine with which we knew we had at least one thing in common-flaming indignation at the denial by America's Israeli client state of the human rights of Palestinians. The article had some interesting figures on The Nation's circulation—and its debts.

First, However, the Facts.

The Nation is a weekly, not a monthly. Each issue of The Nation has 36 pages, while we have 96. This year, we're not quite a monthly since we're only printing 10 issues. But they're not quite a weekly, since they have some double issues each year. They claim "nearly 100,000 subscribers," twice what we in our optimistic mode think we'll have late this year or early in 1992. Mix, blend, stir and serve those facts and figures and you see that The Nation prints four times more pages per year than we do.

Less Color, More Postage.

Obviously they spend a bit less per page on printing (no pictures, color only on the cover) and a bit more on postage (since they go into the mail more frequently).

Now Let's Compare Losses.

Their operating losses, according to The New York Times, "total more than $400,000 a year." That's four times ours, which seems consistent with the fact that they print and mail about four times as many pages.

But They Don't Have Our Problems. We, however, carry big losses on additional publications. There are Dr. Israel Shahak's sensationally revealing translations From the Hebrew Press. We print and distribute it because someone in the US has to. There's our Middle East Clipboard, designed for writers, scholars and consultants who don't have access to data banks and a dozen US and British newspapers every day. How else can they keep up?

Winning Subscribers: a Losing Game.

Nevertheless, it looks like we're losing about as much per page as a magazine that's been in business 116 years longer than we have. Whether that's good or bad, clearly we're a quick study.

There's a Distinction.

The Nation, however, has an owner. He is 59-year-old Arthur L. Carter, who paid $4 million for it. He has invested another $20 million in two other weekly publications. He absorbs the losses philosophically because, according to The New York Times, he has "holdings, primarily in real estate and utilities ... said to be worth $200 million.

That's a Pretty Big Difference.

There's another distinction, according to the Times. Mr. Carter "confesses discomfort with some of the magazine's positions, notably its antagonism toward Israel.

There Goes the Neighborhood.

Well, we confess some discomfort, as well. But it has nothing to do with our antagonism toward Israel, or, more specifically, our antagonism toward the Likudist psychotics who run its labyrinthine government on our taxpayer dollars, making every American a party to their expansionist jabberwocky—and genocidal actions.

We Have a Fear of Heights.

Our discomfort is only at finding ourselves playing in or near Mr. Carter's league, but without the requisite $200 million.

We Don't Have a Quarter of That.

To be more specific, we don't have a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of it. You get the picture.

We Have Nothing Left to Lose.

The kind of people who have Mr. Carter's kind of money feel discomfort about criticizing Israel. Apparently the only people who don't feel discomfort about taking on Israel's American boosters are the kind who have to run a non-profit think tank on quarters.

So We Need Divine Intervention.

If you've read this far, you must be an angel, or at least potentially an angel. We want your help with the opinion molder challenge described on the next page. Anything over $100 for that program, or in an untied donation, gets you right where we need you—in our angels' choir.

Big Wings to Fill.

Here are the categories: Choirmasters ($5,000 or more); Basso Profundos & Sopranos ($2,500 or more); Baritones & Mezzo Sopranos ($1,000 or more); Tenors & Contraltos ($500 or more); Accompanists ($250 or more); Hummers ($100 or more).

Getting Things Straight for 1990.

We published a nearly complete list of the 1990 angels in our January 1991 issue. If you donated but weren't listed correctly, please set us straight, since we're going to publish it again and then send you a gift.

Getting Things Started for 1991.

Meanwhile, in the July issue, we plan to publish the first compilation of 1991 angels, based upon donations to date. Regardless of whether you were in the choir loft last year, we hope to see you there now.

Thank God for Arthur L. Carter.

It's lucky for The Nation his courage on behalf of the First Amendment outweighs his whimwhams about criticizing Likudniks. Let's hope for the sake of The Nation and the nation that the balance doesn't shift.

We've Got the Courage.

There's no question, however, about the political balance shifting at the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

But We Don't Have the Carter.

Our problem is with the shifting financial balance. Last year we had about 150 in our angels' choir. This year we have to hope we'll have the help of another hundred and a half heavenly harpists.

Please Fly With Us.

To hum, accompany, sing or direct, use the postage-paid envelope in this issue. If you plan to deduct your donation from your 1991 income tax, make the check to the AET Library Endowment, whose federal identification number is 52-146032. We'll use those deductible donations for the first $7.50 of each of the appropriate number of library donations. Thanks. You're an Angel!

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Stop! Don't Read This.

Please don't continue to read until after you have either filled out the form that follows on the next page and put it into the postage-paid envelope in this issue, or have just put your untied donation into that envelope. Then please mail it.

When You've Complied, Read on.

There are at least six million more refugees than there were a year ago in the Middle East. You'll know about where to send contributions to either the Kurds or Bangladeshis, if your daily paper is doing its job. If it isn't, call and ask us.

You know about the resourceful Iraqis. They'll put their country back together by themselves, whether we like it or not. Since we helped knock it apart, however, it would be gracious to offer some help to the Iraqi widows and orphans who need it. The Mesopotamian Cultural Society (see page 63) will get your contributions to them.

And, if you're a regular reader, you know about the Palestinians and that your daily paper isn't doing its job in their case. To help Palestinians who need help, turn to our relief agency advertisers in this issue.

Now That You're Broke…

There still are some things to do. All they'll take, however, is time. Turn to page 68 and see if your representative in the House has co-signed the Bonior resolution calling upon the US to guarantee Israel's military security following Israel's acceptance of a "Palestinian homeland. " We see it as a start toward getting the Israelis out of those occupied Palestinian territories, plus the territories of their Lebanese and Syrian neighbors. If your representative in the House has not signed on, write or call to find out why.

There's One More Thing.

We think it's also very important that you write a brief (remember, they may not read them, but they do count them) letter to President George Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 20500, with a copy to Secretary of State James Baker, Department of State, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20520 and three more copies to your two senators and one representative in Congress.

One Letter Will Do for All.

You need to make only one request, and three statements. You could request that, if the Israeli government refuses to halt its subsidization of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestine, and continues to rebuff all land-for-peace initiatives, the US cut off military and economic aid to Israel.

You Could Remind Them ...

Such action is the only way to vindicate the suffering caused by our resort to military rather than economic means to negate Saddam Hussain's aggression.
It will refute the widespread belief, at home and abroad, that the only Arabs the US government helps are those who have oil.
Without such presidential leadership in protecting the Palestinians, the "new world order" will become just a late-20th-century version of 19th-century gunboat diplomacy.