Pacific Standard, Governing magazines to close

Two U.S. magazines, Pacific Standard and Governing, announced this week that they would be closing.

The editor-in-chief of Pacific Standard, which covers social and environmental justice issues, tweeted Wednesday that he had learned that the magazine would be shut down.

“We learned this morning, without any warning, that our primary funder is cutting off all charitable giving and that our board is shutting down @PacificStand, effective next Friday,” wrote editor-in-chief Nicholas Jackson. 

“I’m feeling all of the emotions about this terrible news,”  he continued. “Anger and frustration, certainly—we were repeatedly and enthusiastically told we were over-performing and -delivering up until the very end, and that we had a long-term commitment—shock, sadness and disappointment.”

Today is an extremely difficult day, the worst day—and I’m heart-broken and devastated. We learned this morning, without any warning, that our primary funder is cutting off all charitable giving and that our board is shutting down @PacificStand, effective next Friday.

— Nicholas Jackson (@nbj914) August 7, 2019

I’m feeling all of the emotions about this terrible news. Anger and frustration, certainly—we were repeatedly and enthusiastically told we were over-performing and -delivering up until the very end, and that we had a long-term commitment—shock, sadness and disappointment.

— Nicholas Jackson (@nbj914) August 7, 2019

SAGE Publishing, which has funded Pacific Standard, also announced the closure in a Wednesday statement on behalf of its Social Justice Foundation.

“SAGE is unable to continue to offer the very considerable financial support that the magazine requires to be viable while also investing in the core businesses of SAGE Publishing and, as a result, the Board of the Foundation had no alternative but to take this decision,” the statement said. 

The board also told The Hill in a statement Thursday that it learned in the later part of July that it would not receive more contributions and that even a month ago, it did not expect to be in this situation. 

“We understand and deeply regret the shock of this announcement to our staff and its impact on them,” the statement said. “If we had been able to give notice or warning earlier, we of course would have done so.”

Leaders of Governing magazine, which covers state and local governments, announced its closure in a Wednesday letter posted to the company’s website. 

The magazine will no longer publish its monthly magazine after September and will wind down its online presence, according to the letter signed by publisher Mark Funkhouser, executive editor Zach Patton and managing editor Elizabeth Daigneau. 

“Governing has proven to be unsustainable as a business in today’s media environment,” they wrote. 

“We have loved chronicling that incredible work for the past three decades, and we’re confident that the tremendous work of America’s state and local public servants will go on,” they added. 

According to its website, Governing, which began in 1987, had a circulation of approximately 85,000. Pacific Standard’s website said that it had 1.3 million unique visitors each month. 

Updated: 4:53 p.m.