Magazine to attract younger voters with free online edition

By: Paul Stanley

Posted: 2/6/08

Syracuse University students who crave liberal politics and take advantage of the campus's Student Readership Program will soon have another free publication to add to their reading list.

The Nation, America's oldest weekly magazine, is offering a digital subscription to college students across the country at no cost. Undergraduates and graduate students can sign up for a free subscription at www.studentnation.us

The magazine's associate publisher, Peter Rothberg, said this promotion is an attempt to hook students who wouldn't normally pay for a magazine subscription, into what The Nation is all about.

"I think The Nation can't really compare to The New York Times or the other weekly magazines," Rothberg said. "In terms of U.S. news, students will find a much more liberal and progressive take on the issues. We like to think of it as a little bit more of an intellectually based analysis on what's going on in our country and around the world."

Still, experts at SU cautioned students to understand what they were getting into with the magazine, which features weekly columns from acclaimed authors such as Naomi Klein and Calvin Trillin.

Mark Obbie, an associate professor of magazine journalism, said The Nation is a great magazine for students who are passionate about politics, but said others would be better off turning to a general interest magazine to learn about the world.

"This is one of those publishing ideas that seems driven by the impulse to skew younger (people) and to look like you're hip," Obbie said. "I just don't think of hip and young when I think of The Nation. I think that if I'm a political activist, a student running a group, involved in protests, involved in public interest work or studying political science, then yes."

But for the typical student, Obbie thinks The Nation provides more information and content than they would care to read.

"I wouldn't read this to try to keep up with current events," Obbie said. "This goes way over the heads of most students in what they care about, not technically, but the depth of it is just way beyond what the average student would care about."

Robert McClure, a political science and public affairs professor, agreed with Obbie.

"The danger is that you read The Nation or National Review and you think that it's the only way to look at the world, that it's God's truth, and that is dangerous," McClure said.

McClure said everyone should seek to read the perspectives of those who disagree with us, but to use a critical viewpoint because publications like The Nation will arrange the facts to illustrate their perspective.

"It's a legitimate perspective, but it is an arrangement of the facts," McClure said. "Therefore, I urge people in politics to read a journal on the left and a journal on the right and to try to find the fundamental facts down the middle."

Rothberg, the magazine's publisher, said The Nation will give people a good sense of what a certain segment of America is thinking and try to engage them to take a position on issues ranging from the Iraq War to healthcare.

"The mission since we founded The Nation in 1865 is really just to report on what we think are the most important events going on in America and around the world," Rothberg said. "We're a general interest magazine that exists not to make money because we don't, but to promote a certain set of values and report on America as we see it."