The best and worst of conservative magazines

Fri, Feb 19 2010 07:43 PM | publications reviews IMHO beware | Permalink
The best mainstream conservative publications are the venerable National Review founded by William F. Buckley in 1955, now edited by Rich Lowry, and the Weekly Standard edited by Bill Kristol. Both are extremely well-written and scrupulous in their approaches.
Historically, the former is probably a bit more on the literary side, and the latter more contemporary. But NRO (National Review's online presence) thrives under Jonah Goldberg's helm.
The Standard's layout is cleaner and similar to the liberal The New Republic, which I periodically subscribe to, until I'm driven off by some of the more frothing-mouth contributors. Publisher Marty Peretz is frequently commonsensical, despite having been Al Gore's mentor.
Human Events, dating from 1944, is a respected publication, and incidentally the first to publish my favorite firebrand, Ann Coulter. Unfortunately, it insists on remaining a tabloid-format newspaper with production values inferior to a small-town newspaper. So I dropped my subscription from my ink-stained hands.
If they'd convert to a decent magazine format, I'd re-subscribe immediately. It wouldn't even have to be on slick paper, or four-color, although printing breakthroughs have made the latter very affordable for publishers.
Commentary, the Jewish intellectual conservative publication, is estimable, but its slant will make it heavy going for many readers.
Slightly off-topic: Reason magazine is libertarian, but really has a first-rate magazine and website.
And I must put in a plug for Jewish World Review, a one-man operation that's truly a labor of love and selfless commitment. JWR is worth a review all of its own, to come.
After this, we get to fringe-y publications.
WorldNetDaily has a magazine called Whistleblower which is a cheapjack embarrassment. I subscribed a few years ago, only to find the 4/c glossy exterior covers up interior content that looks like it was run off on a mimeograph machine.
Publisher Joseph Farah has a journalism background, but I take anything I see attributed to his site with an enormous grain of salt. Its circulation and revenue are modest.
Alas, a home to birther and North American Union conspiracy theories. 'Nuff said.
NewsMax is a strange duck. I regard it as unreliable, but it has some stellar board members, and is vastly profitable, having found a way to "monetize" the web.
In honesty, I haven't read their magazine, and have no plans to. Warning: If you ever get on their mailing list, you'll be bombarded endlessly with junk email, which is hard to stop.
Both these outfits have a host of good conservative columnists, but I'd frankly rather access them through Drudge or some other venue.
DaddyWarbucks recommends, in rank order:
  1. National Review/The Weekly Standard (tie)
  2. Reason/Commentary (tie)
  3. Human Events
  4. Townhall.com (website only)
  5. Jewish World Review (website only)
And none of the others.
daddywarbucks
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