In These Times magazine

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In These Times is an independent, nonprofit magazine. It self-describes as being "dedicated to advancing democracy and economic justice, informing movements for a more humane world, and providing an accessible forum for debate about the policies that shape our future" and was founded with the mission to "identify and clarify the struggles against corporate power now multiplying in American society." [1]

Estimated Reach

In 2017, In These Times surpassed 50,000 print subscribers.[2] As of September 2019, website traffic was estimated by various sources to be between 166,080[3] and 283,372[4] unique monthly visitors. As of this same time, the In These Times Twitter page had around 36,000 followers[5] and its Facebook page had around 143,000 followers.[6]

Content of Writing

As of September 2019, the magazine's article content was divided into four main sections: politics, act locally, labor, and culture.[7]

Politics

Money in Politics

  • Reporting on ALEC Influence

CMD and In These Times have both reported on many instances of ALEC attempting to "blur the line between public service and corporate profits"[8]

A 2019 article laid bare the funding of centrist Democratic organizations, such as the New Democracy PAC and the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). After these organizations' founder, Will Marshall, criticized democratic socialism, Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a Daily Beast article, In These Times contributing editor Joel Bleifuss responded, pointing out "PPI funders have included the weapons manufacturer Raytheon, Dow Chemical and General Electric, along with the right-wing Bradley Foundation, which funds the American Legislative Exchange Council."[9]

A 2017 article talked about State Innovation Exchange (SiX), founded to be the progressive counterweight to ALEC. The piece included an interview with SiX's director of strategic engagement, Sam Munger.[10]

A pair of 2010 companion articles discusses the connections between dark money, lobbyists, legislators, the private prison industry, and anti-immigration laws in Arizona.[11][8]

Center for Media and Democracy board president Lisa Graves has contributed to In These Times in articles highlighting the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), National Security Agency spying, Occupy Wall Street, and dark money in politics.[12]

  • Reporting on Democracy Alliance

In a 2006 article, MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes wrote about the Democracy Alliance, "a group of millionaires—including George Soros and insurance magnate Peter Lewis— who've pledged to give a minimum of $200,000 a year for the next five years to progressive organizations."[13] Hayes talks generally about the issues surrounding wealthy funders of progressive causes, concluding his piece by saying, "It's almost too obvious a point to articulate, but it bears repetition nonetheless: The arithmetic of fundraising is not the simple arithmetic of democracy. There is no one person, one vote. American hyper-capitalism creates winners and losers, people who can write $20 checks and people who can write $2 million checks. Even if the Internet provides a platform for massive small donor giving, large donors are still going to play a disproportionately large role in funding the progressive movement."[13]

Labor

Reporting on Janus Supreme Court Case

Center for Media and Democracy reporter Mary Bottari won a Sidney Award[14] for her February 2018 In These Times article[15] on the Janus vs. AFSCME, U.S. Supreme Court Case.

In the piece, she laid out how "a small group of people working for deep-pocketed corporate interests, conservative think tanks and right-wing foundations have bankrolled a series of lawsuits to end what they call 'forced unionization.'"[15] She also named the State Policy Network as a "key director" in these union-busting strategies.[15]

Bottari also noted how media coverage focused on the stories of individual union members, Mark Janus and Rebecca Friedrichs, without elaborating on the bigger picture: a multi-year plan by "the Troika" (consisting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans for Prosperity and the State Policy Network) to weaken public-sector unions.[15]

She also described how the Troika's strategy differed depending on whether Democrats or Republicans controlled each state legislature:

  • In the 2010 midterms, Republicans gained control of many new governor's mansions and state legislative majorities. After that, the Troika successfully restricted union efforts through legislation in 15 states.
  • Where legislation was impossible due to Democratic control, the Troika instead used anti-union lawsuits to achieve its goals.[15]

Bottari also noted the political implications of a Janus victory, highlighting an interview with Grover Norquist where he says "Seven million public-sector employees who pay between $4 billion and $8 billion a year in dues— a third of them will quit [paying]... Now try funding the modern Democratic Party without union dues— good luck."[15]

Bottari continued, pointing out how, by funding anti-union efforts, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation accomplishes another key goal: weakening the power of public school teachers and moving toward the full privatization of American schools.[15]

Finally, she explained how protestors, not Democratic politicians, are largely responsible for attempts to stop "the right-wing machine’s deeply financed, organized and focused attack on workers", pointing out how "First Jimmy Carter, then Bill Clinton, then Barack Obama failed to pass a national 'card check' program— a measure that would have made forming a union as easy as signing a postcard— while their party controlled both houses of Congress."[15]

Bottari has contributed other articles about the American Legislative Exchange Council and other members of the Koch Network to In These Times.[16]

News and Background

In These Times was founded in 1976 by author and historian James Weinstein, who spent his life hoping "to resurrect a viable American left which he considered to have been destroyed by the detour of many American socialists and progressives into communism" and whose books "delved into the early history of American radicalism in self-help associations of many kinds, and in the progressive tradition of resistance to corporate dominance." [17] Other notable original sponsors of In These Times were Daniel Ellsberg, E.P. Thompson, Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Julian Bond, and Herbert Marcuse.[1]

In 2014, the magazine became a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News.[18]

Also in 2014, the staff of In These Times joined the Communications Workers Of America Union[19]

In 2016, the magazine teamed up with Kartemquin Films to create "Stranded by the State", a series on the 2015 Illinois budget fight. As described by In These Times, "The series incorporates data connecting the situation in Illinois to long-term trends of austerity affecting the country at large, and how it ultimately costs taxpayers more in the long run."[20]

"Stranded by the State"– Trailer

Personnel

As of September 6, 2019:[1]

Staff

Founding Editor and Publisher

  • James Weinstein (deceased)

Editor and Publisher

Executive Publisher

  • Christopher Hass

Editors

  • Jessica Stites, Executive Editor
  • Diana Babineau Owen, Managing Editor
  • Dayton Martindale, Associate Editor
  • Miles Kampf-Lassin, Sarah Lazare, Web Editors
  • Bob Miller, Copy Editor
Senior Editors
Contributing Editors

Contributing Writers

  • Kate Aronoff
  • Theo Anderson
  • Michael Atkinson
  • Frida Berrigan
  • Michelle Chen
  • Sady Doyle
  • Pete Karman
  • Jane Miller
  • Shaun Richman
  • Cole Stangler
  • Slavoj Žižek

Board of Directors

  • M. Nieves Bolanos
  • Dan Dineen
  • James Harkin
  • Brian Johnson
  • Robert Kraig
  • Nancy Fleck Myers
  • Paul Olsen
  • Margaret Rung
  • Steven Saltzman
  • David Taber
  • James Thindwa
  • Jenny Tomkins

Funding

In These Times is funded by its publisher, the Institute for Public Affairs.[19]
As of September 2019, the magazine's website was sponsored by the Puffin Foundation.[1]

Core Financials

2017[21]
Total Revenue: $2,964,430
Total Expenses: $2,358,541
Net Assets: $2,393,530

2016[22]
Total Revenue: $1,886,514
Total Expenses: $1,891,387
Net Assets: $1,787,641

2014[23]
Total Revenue: $3,267,230
Total Expenses: $1,472,825
Net Assets: $1,774,708

2013[24]
Total Revenue: $1,509.646
Total Expenses: $1,394,293
Net Assets: $-19,697

Contact

In These Times
2040 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago IL 60647

Website: inthesetimes.com
Web contact form: /contact
Facebook: /inthesetimesmag
Twitter: @InTheseTimesMag

Articles and Resources

Related Sourcewatch

IRS Form 990 Filings

2017

2016

2014

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 In These Times, About Us, organizational website, accessed September 6, 2019.
  2. ↑ Joel Bleifuss, "Introducing the New In These Times", In These Times, August 9, 2017, accessed September 22, 2019.
  3. ↑ Site Worth Traffic, inthesetimes.com Traffic Worth, organizational website, accessed September 22, 2019
  4. ↑ Crunchbase, In These Times–Web Traffic by SimilarWeb, organizational website, accessed September 22, 2019.
  5. ↑ In These Times, In These Times Mag, Twitter, accessed September 22, 2019.
  6. ↑ In These Times, In These Times Mag, Facebook, accessed September 22, 2019.
  7. ↑ In These Times, In These Times, organizational website, accessed September 20, 2019.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Beau Hodai, "Ties That Bind: Arizona Politicians and the Private Prison Industry", In These Times, June 21, 2010, accessed September 20, 2019.
  9. ↑ Joel Bleifuss, "How Third Way Democrats Could Get Trump Re-elected", In These Times, February 25, 2019, accessed September 20, 2019.
  10. ↑ Theo Anderson, [http://inthesetimes.com/article/19867/how-the-lefts-long-march-back-will-begin-in-the-states "How the Left’s Long March Back Will Begin in the States", In These Times, February 6, 2017, accessed September 20, 2019.
  11. ↑ Beau Hodai, Corporate Con Game, In These Times, June 21, 2010, accessed September 20, 2019.
  12. ↑ In These Times, Lisa Graves- Profile, organizational website, accessed September 20, 2019.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Christopher Hayes, The New Funding Heresies, In These Times, June 26, 2006, accessed September 20, 2019.
  14. ↑ Sidney Hillman Foundation, "Mary Bottari wins March Sidney for tracing billionaires’ plot to kill unions", organizational website, March 2018, accessed September 20, 2019.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 Mary Bottari, "Behind Janus: Documents Reveal Decade-Long Plot to Kill Public-Sector Unions", In These Times, February 22, 2018, accessed September 20, 2019.
  16. ↑ In These Times, Mary Bottari - Profile, organizational website, accessed September 20, 2019.
  17. ↑ Godfrey Hodgson, James Weinstein, Guardian, June 21, 2005, accessed September 6, 2019.
  18. ↑ Institute for Nonprofit News, In These Times, organizational website, accessed September 20, 2019.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Dave Jamieson, "Staff Of In These Times Magazine Joins Communications Workers Of America Union", HuffPost, February 25, 2014, accessed September 20, 2019.
  20. ↑ In These Times, Stranded by the State, organizational website, accessed September 20, 2019.
  21. ↑ Institute for Public Affairs, [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6783823-In-These-Times-2017-990.html 2017 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, June 25, 2019.
  22. ↑ Institute for Public Affairs, [https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/942/942889692/942889692_201612_990.pdf 2016 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, accessed September 26, 2019.
  23. ↑ Institute for Public Affairs, [https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/942/942889692/942889692_201412_990.pdf 2014 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, accessed September 26, 2019.
  24. ↑ Institute for Public Affairs,[https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/942/942889692/942889692_201412_990.pdf 2014 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, accessed September 26, 2019.
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