View source for In These Times (magazine)

{{Short description|American politically progressive monthly magazine}}
{{For|other things called "In These Times"|In These Times (disambiguation){{!}}In These Times}}
{{refimprove|date=January 2017}}
{{use mdy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title           = In These Times
| logo            = 
| logo_size       = 
| image_file      = Magazine Cover, Dec 2016.png
| image_alt       = 
| image_caption   = Magazine cover, December 2016.
| editor          = 
| editor_title    = 
| previous_editor = 
| staff_writer    = 
| photographer    = 
| category        = [[Progressivism|Progressive]] news and opinion
| frequency       = Monthly
| circulation     = 50,000 <small>({{as of|lc=yes|2017}})</small>
| publisher       = Christopher Hass
| founder         = [[James Weinstein (author)|James Weinstein]]
| founded         = {{start date and age|1976|11}}
| firstdate       = {{start date|1976|11}}
| company         = [[Institute for Public Affairs (U.S.)|Institute for Public Affairs]]
| country         = United States
| based           = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.
| language        = English
| website         = {{official URL}}
| issn            = 0160-5992
| oclc            = 60620754
}}
'''''In These Times''''' is an American [[politically progressive]] monthly magazine of news and opinion published in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Bill Bigelow|author2=Bob Peterson|title=Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gfv2NePkYngC&pg=PA380|access-date=December 5, 2015|date=January 1, 2002|publisher=Rethinking Schools|isbn=978-0-942961-28-7|page=380}}</ref> It was established as a [[broadsheet]]-format fortnightly newspaper in 1976 by [[James Weinstein (author)|James Weinstein]], a lifelong [[socialist]].  It investigates alleged corporate and government wrongdoing, covers international affairs, and has a cultural section.  It regularly reports on labor, economic and racial justice movements, [[environmentalism|environmental issues]], [[feminism]], [[grassroots democracy]], [[minority group|minority communities]], and the [[Mass media|media]].

Weinstein was the publication's founding editor and publisher; its current publisher is [[Christopher Hass]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://inthesetimes.com/about|title=In These Times - MASTHEAD|work=In These Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://inthesetimes.com/authors/christopher-hass|title=CHRISTOPHER HASS|work=In These Times}}</ref> {{As of|2017}}, it had a circulation of over 50,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inthesetimes.com/features/new_in_these_times.html|title=Introducing the ''New In These Times''|first=Joel|last=Bleifuss|date=August 9, 2017|work=In These Times}}</ref> As a [[nonprofit organization]], the magazine is financed through subscriptions and donations.

==History==
In 1976, Weinstein, a historian and former editor of ''Studies on the Left'', launched the politically progressive journal ''In These Times''. He sought to model the newsweekly on the early-20th-century socialist newspaper the ''[[Appeal to Reason (newspaper)|Appeal to Reason]]''.  For some time, its tagline was 'The Socialist Newsweekly'. "We intend to speak to [[corporate capitalism]] as the great issue of our time, and to socialism as the popular movement that will meet it" he told the ''[[Chicago Sun Times]]'' on the eve of the first issue's release.<ref>''[[Chicago Sun Times]]''. November 15, 1976.</ref>  While Weinstein himself was involved with both the [[New American Movement]] and the [[Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee]], he wanted the journal to be independent of any one [[political party]] or [[political faction|faction]].  Thus, over the years it has published a wide variety of contributors{{spaced ndash}}from [[anarchist]]s, to [[trade union|union]] members, to [[centrist]]s.

During the 1980s, the publication became well known for its investigative reporting of the [[Iran–Contra affair]]. It has since broken stories on the deliberate destruction of Iraqi water treatment plants by US forces during the first [[Gulf War]] (1990–1991), [[global warming]], and on the emergence of [[mad cow disease]].

During the 1980s, and up to 1992, it was a biweekly newspaper and a democratic-socialist competitor to the ''[[National Guardian]]'', which was a biweekly newspaper that was closer to [[Marxism–Leninism]].<ref>The Guardian of New York, NY, not the Manchester Guardian. Peter Miller, "[[Carl Davidson]]: [http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers2011/petermiller.htm From SDS and The Guardian, to cyRev and CyberRadicalism for the 21st Century"]</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Revolution in the Air, Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che|url=https://archive.org/details/revolutionairsix00elba|url-access=limited|last=Elbaum|first=Max|publisher=Verso|year=2002|isbn=1-85984-617-3|location=London/New York City|pages=[https://archive.org/details/revolutionairsix00elba/page/n120 222]|quote="In These Times was the latest in a series of vehicles launched by James Weinstein to regain the initiative for left social democracy. ... ITT's immediate objective was to supplant the Guardian as the country's pre-eminent left newspaper."}}</ref>

Senior editor [[Silja J.&nbsp;A. Talvi]] won two [[National Council on Crime and Delinquency]] PASS Awards (2005, 2006) for her reporting on the impact of [[three strikes sentencing]] on [[African-American]] men, and on the trend toward [[Private prison|privatization of the prison system]].

The magazine was awarded the ''[[Utne Reader]]''{{'s}} [[Utne Reader#Utne Independent Press Awards|Independent Press Award]] for Best Political Coverage in 2006.<ref>[http://www.utne.com/issues/2006_139/features/12378-1.html "Political Coverage: In These Times: 2006 UIPA Winners"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112051311/http://www.utne.com/issues/2006_139/features/12378-1.html |date=January 12, 2007 }}.  ''[[Utne Reader]]''.  January / February 2007.</ref>

==Contributors==
Two of the magazine's longest-running columns are [[Salim Muwakkil]]'s ''The Third Coast'', covering race relations, and [[Susan J. Douglas]]'s ''Back Talk'', a critical review of the mass media.

[[David Moberg (journalist)|David Moberg]] has reported on labor and [[political economy]] for the magazine since its inception in 1976.

[[Joel Bleifuss]] was editor from the mid-1980s until April 2022.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bleifuss |first1=Joel |title=Dear Reader: A Farewell Message |url=https://inthesetimes.com/article/joels-letter-from-the-editor |website=In These Times |date=June 27, 2022 |access-date=22 May 2023}}</ref>  More stories from his column, ''The First Stone'', have been included in Project Censored's "Top 25 Censored Stories of the Year" than of any other journalist.

Other columnists include [[H. Candace Gorman]], [[Laura S. Washington]] and [[Terry J. Allen]].

Senior editors include Allen, [[Patricia Aufderheide]], Douglas, Moberg, Muwakkil and [[David Sirota]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inthesetimes.com/about |title=About In These Times |work=In These Times}}</ref>

Notable contributors to the magazine have included:
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Noam Chomsky]]
* [[Alexander Cockburn]]
* [[Barbara Ehrenreich]]
* [[Norman Finkelstein]]
* [[Laura Flanders]]
* [[Annette Fuentes]]
* [[Juan Gonzalez (journalist)|Juan Gonzalez]]
* [[David Graeber]]
* [[Glenn Greenwald]]
* [[Miles Harvey]]
* [[Doug Ireland]]
* [[John Judis]]
* [[Garrison Keillor]]
* [[Naomi Klein]]
* [[Robert W. McChesney]]
* [[Rick Perlstein]]
* [[Jeffrey St. Clair]]
* [[Jane Slaughter (journalist)|Jane Slaughter]]
* [[James Weinstein (author)|James Thindwa]]
* [[Michael VanRooyen]]
* [[Kurt Vonnegut]]
* [[Joan Walsh]]
* [[Fred Weir]]
* [[Paul Wellstone]]
* [[Slavoj Žižek]]
{{div col end}}

==See also==
{{portal|Chicago|Journalism|Politics|Socialism}}
* [[Institute for Nonprofit News]], membership organization that ''In These Times'' was selected to join
* [[List of newspapers in Illinois]]
* [[List of political magazines]]
* [[List of United States magazines]]
* [[Media in Chicago]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website|1=https://inthesetimes.com}} 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060207014213/http://www.fireontheprairie.com/ Fire on the Prairie]{{spaced ndash}} [[podcast]] (active 2003&ndash;2006) with interviews and speeches from progressive leaders

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[[Category:1976 establishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:Alternative magazines]]
[[Category:Bimonthly magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:News magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Political magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1976]]
[[Category:Magazines published in Chicago]]
[[Category:Progressivism in the United States]]
[[Category:Social democratic organizations]]
[[Category:Socialism in Illinois]]
[[Category:Socialist magazines]]