OLD Media News

Demise of on-line magazine Pacific Standard rocks journalism world

The sudden death of Pacific Standard, a decade-old Santa Barbara-based online magazine covering environmental science, social justice, economics policy, official corruption and other substantive issues, has hit the journalism community especially hard.

The small but dedicated staff of 16 journalists were sent packing this month. 

Pacific Standard debuted in 2008 as the Miller-McCune Report, named after its patron, Sara Miller McCune, the founder and controlling partner of Sage Publishing. The magazine was rebranded to its current title in 2012. It was known for deeply reported, well-edited stories on social justice issues, with a particular focus on the environment and education. And it was deliberately located on the West Coast to counter the East Coast flavor of its competition, like The Atlantic and The New Yorker.

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2019/the-dark-side-of-journalisms-fairy-godmother-business-model/

The magazine had an intriguing funding model. The for-profit Sage Publishing funded it through the Social Justice Foundation, a non-profit whose sole function was to run the Pacific Standard.

This Daily Beast article gives insight into what went wrong. It appears that Sage abruptly notified the Social Justice Foundation that there would be no more donations. It’s not clear why. The four board members at the Social Justice Foundation are all Sage executives, so it stands to reason that they were aware of any financial issues that Sage might be having.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-sudden-brutal-death-of-pacific-standard-this-is-heartbreaking-what-a-loss

A close look at the foundation’s tax returns from 2017, the most recent year available, shows that the company was spending close to $3.5 million a year, all a charitable gift from a single source. The publication was making very little headway, less than $300,000 a year, in generating its own revenue.

In an article on the Poynter Institute’s website casting doubt on this funding model, Kelly McBride writes that the stunning and rapid death of Pacific Standard is a cautionary tale. “A single, generous donor can be risky business.”

She added, “Just like winning the lottery, finding a generous patron is no guarantee of a happy future. The permanent shuttering of Pacific Standard is a wake-up call to those who entertain this fantasy.”

Yvonne Zacharias

Recent Posts

Is this the end of CoinDesk as we know it?

Former CoinDesk editorial staffer Michael McSweeney writes about the recent happenings at the cryptocurrency news site, where…

11 hours ago

LinkedIn finance editor Singh departs

Manas Pratap Singh, finance editor for LinkedIn News Europe, has left for a new opportunity…

2 days ago

Washington Post announces start of third newsroom

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray sent out the following on Friday: Dear All, Over the last…

3 days ago

FT hires Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels

The Financial Times has hired Barbara Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels. She will start…

3 days ago

Deputy tech editor Haselton departs CNBC for The Verge

CNBC.com deputy technology editor Todd Haselton is leaving the news organization for a job at The Verge.…

3 days ago

“Power Lunch” co-anchor Tyler Mathisen is leaving CNBC

Note from CNBC Business News senior vice president Dan Colarusso: After more than 27 years…

3 days ago