New Internationalist

New Internationalist (NI) is an international publisher and left wing magazine, owned by a multi-stakeholder Co-operative. It is based in Oxford, United Kingdom.[1] Predominantly known for its bimonthly independent magazine, it describes itself as existing to "cover stories the mainstream media sidestep and provide alternative perspectives on today's global critical issues."[2] It covers social and environmental issues through its magazine, books and digital platforms.

This article is about the British magazine. For the British newspaper publisher, see News International. For the US Socialist Workers Party magazine, see New International. For the Pakistani newspaper, see The News International.
New Internationalist
May–June 2019 (Issue 519) cover
Co-EditorRotated (bimonthly)
CategoriesGlobal Justice
Frequency6 Issues/Year
PublisherNew Internationalist Publications Limited
Paid circulation25,000
Year founded1973
First issueMarch 1973
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inOxford, England
LanguageEnglish
Websitenewint.org
ISSN0305-9529

New Internationalist magazine has existed for more than 40 years[3] and currently is the largest magazine of its type in circulation in the United Kingdom. It has won the Utne Independent Press Award for "Best International Coverage" eight times, most recently in 2013[4] and an Amnesty International UK Media Awards 2012 award in the consumer magazine category as well as being recognised by the United Nations for its "outstanding contribution to world peace and development".[5]

In 2017, New Internationalist ran a Community Share Offer in which 3,409 people invested £704,114 (US$879,000) to create a new multi-stakeholder [Co-operative] called New Internationalist Co-operative.[6] In March of that year New Internationalist published the 500th issue of New Internationalist magazine.

New Internationalist is a worker run co-op with a non-hierarchical structure[7] and strict editorial and environmental policies.[8][9]

Publisher

New Internationalist magazine is published by New Internationalist Publications Limited, a co-operative-run publisher based in Oxford, United Kingdom.[10].

Originally, New Internationalist magazine was co-sponsored by Oxfam, Christian Aid and the Cadbury and Rowntree trusts. The magazine is now funded through subscriptions, advertisements, and product sales.[11]

New Internationalist has produced films, books and other materials for various United Nations agencies and related bodies concerned with world development.[12] The book publisher Myriad Editions merged with New Internationalist in 2017.[13]

New Internationalist runs a number of mail-order outlets for NGOs, charities and campaigning organisations. These include Amnesty International UK, Friends of the Earth UK and the Ethical Shop in the United Kingdom; and the New Internationalist North America shop in the United States of America and Canada.[14][15]

History

Origins

New Internationalist magazine was launched as a monthly magazine in 1973.[16] Its forerunner was The Internationalist, sent to members of the student development organisation Third World First, since renamed People & Planet.

It was set up with financial help from two UK NGOs, Oxfam and Christian Aid, who wanted to encourage more people to understand the processes of "development" by publishing a monthly magazine to discuss and debate development issues in an accessible way.[17] They formed a new publishing company, Devopress, with a subvention of £50,000 for the period 1973–76. Devopress comprised three Christian Aid directors and three from Oxfam. The board took a lively interest in the editorial and marketing of the magazine, although the editorial line was independent.[18][19]

Early issues of New Internationalist magazine included a feature on the Tan-Zam railway in Tanzania, interviews with President Kaunda of Zambia[20] and Bishop Helder Camara in Brazil, and features on Vietnam, drought in the Sahel, and the legacy of Che Guevara. It was an issue of New Internationalist magazine, in August 1973, that first drew attention to the irresponsible marketing of baby milk in the Third World by multinational companies.[21]

1970s-1990s

In the early 1970s, there was a significant public interest in the relationship between the West and developing countries highlighted by issues such as the Vietnam War, armed conflict during the decolonization of Africa, The "Green Revolution", African Socialism, Cuban domestic and foreign policy under Fidel Castro and in Communist China under Mao Zedong, issues about Trickle down economics etc.

New Internationalist magazine published articles about all of these topics.[22] It aimed to offer readers "a radical analysis of rich-poor world relationships, looking critically at the effects of aid programmes, for example, and providing a refreshing alternative to the mainstream development and news channels, and mainstream media".[23]

Its strapline at the time was "the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for world development".[24][25]

New Internationalist came close to bankruptcy when postal charges almost doubled in 1975. The publisher was rescued by funding from groups including Cadbury's and Rowntree's trusts, the Methodist church in the UK, Community Aid Abroad in Australia and Oxfam-Quebec in Canada .

In 1974 New Internationalist was commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to produce a kit of materials to mark World Population Year. In the following years New Internationalist produced press kits for the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Children's Fund and participated in BBC television's Global Report series.

By the 1980s, marketing efforts focused on gaining subscriptions (in particular by Direct Debit) rather than on newsstand sales had resulted in a financially stable company. The organization was able purchase premises.

In 1982, New Internationalist began publishing a One World Calendar, with a number of other organizations. In 1987, New Internationalist became an equal pay co-operative[26]. In 1988 New Internationalist started a mail order operation.[27].

In 1993, the magazine switched to full colour printing and it was printed on recycled paper by 1999.

Recent History

In 2017, New Internationalist ran a Community Share Offer in which 3,409 people invested £704,114 (US$879,000) to create a new multi-stakeholder Co-operative called New Internationalist Co-operative.[28][29]

In April 2017, New Internationalist magazine had a circulation of 25,000, down from a peak of 75,000 at the turn of the millenium.[30]

In September 2018, New Internationalist magazine was redesigned. Since then it has been published bimonthly, six times a year, with its size doubled to 84 pages.[31]

New Internationalist publishes a range of books and calendars.[32] In 2017, New Internationalist acquired the Brighton-based publisher Myriad Editions.[33]

New Internationalist also runs a mail order-business called Ethical Shop and has run Amnesty International UK's mail order operation since 1999.[34]

Further Information

Organizational Structure

When New Internationalist started, the company operated as a conventional hierarchical organization, albeit with much sharing and teamwork.

In 1976 a more co-operative approach was adopted and developed over the years so that, although legally it was a limited company owned by the original shareholders, Peter and Lesley Adamson, the NI operated as a collective, with decision-making shared by all members on an equal footing.

In 1987 New Internationalist became an equal pay co-operative.[35].

Eventually the Adamsons transferred their ownership of the limited company, now called New Internationalist Publications Limited, to a trust called New Internationalist Trust. The trust was 2/3 controlled by the company's employees who became trustees automatically whilst 1/3 of votes were held by co-opted Advisory trustees.[36]

In 2018 the Trust was replaced by a multi-stakeholder co-operative[37], following a successful Community Share Offer[38].

Editorial policy

Several innovations had taken place in the magazine. In its early days, a wide range of subjects was covered in each issue. But in 1976 this changed. The idea of a part-work emerged, and each month's edition was devoted to one particular subject (for example Islam or World Food) to give the reader a comprehensive guide and analysis.

The magazine has been redesigned several times, most recently in 2018. It moved to full-colour in 1993. Although its left-wing, Libertarian socialist-leaning editorial line has remained broadly unchanged – it is non-party political and committed to radical change within and between rich and poor countries – the approach has been modified over the years. The NI nowadays is less Eurocentric and reflects broader concerns with environmental, gender and cultural angles in addition to social, economic and political ones. The magazine aims to reflect the views and concerns of its overseas subscribers as well as those in the UK. There is considerable emphasis on finding women contributors and writers and photographers from the South.

The use of the term 'Third World' – more or less unknown when the magazine started – is debated now and discarded by some. "Majority World" and "the South" have become more widespread. 'Development' and 'sustainable development' similarly are contentious to some people – too long to go into the debates here – but the magazine still uses them as useful shorthand phrases. Reflecting this change, the magazine has also altered the strapline, which now reads: "the people, the ideas, the action in the fight for global justice". In the NI today there is close identification with the issues and challenges people face, wherever they happen to live – the notion of one world or global village.

Some magazines are specially produced to tie in with campaigns. There have been issues on East Timor, Western Sahara, Cambodia, Burma, Fair trade (Coffee, Bananas and Cocoa), Homelessness, Jubilee 2000 and UN Sanctions on Iraq.

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See also

References
  1. Ltd., New Internationalist Publications. "Contact us". newint.org. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  2. About New Internationalist.
  3. New Internationalist history Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  4. 2013 Utne Media Awards: The Winners
  5. New Internationalist awards Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  6. New Internationalist crowdfunds more than £700,000 to provide 'a more compelling and complete view of the world', accessed 27 July 2020
  7. Co-operative News: New Internationalist reporting on world poverty and inequality for more than 40 years
  8. New Internationalist environmental policy Archived 7 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  9. New Internationalist editorial policy Archived 7 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  10. New Internationalist Publications Limited record at Companies House
  11. New Internationalist annual report 2013–2014 Archived 9 May 2016 at the Wayback MachineDawson Books newsletter item Archived 26 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  12. New Internationalist: Contracts page Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  13. "Myriad Editions merge with New Internationalist". New Internationalist. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  14. Ramblers Shop goes live
  15. the Ethical Shop – about page
  16. Rowenna Davis, The Guardian "New Internationalist magazine aims to woo younger readers", The Guardian, 11 October 2010.
  17. Maggie Black (ed.), A Cause for Our Times: Oxfam – The First Fifty Years, pp. 205–206.
  18. New Internationalist history Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  19. Companies House record for New Internationalist Campaigners Ltd (formerly Devopress).
  20. "Interview with President Kaunda", New Internationalist, 1 March 1973.
  21. "The baby food tragedy", New Internationalist, August 1973, Issue 006.
  22. New Internationalist magazine: Past Issues
  23. New Internationalist history Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  24. Black, A Cause for Our Times, p. 205.
  25. Advert in Mother Jones, April 1979.
  26. Voinea, Anca (20 June 2013). "New Internationalist reporting on world poverty and inequality for more than 40 years". Co-operative News. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  27. New Internationalist history Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  28. Facts and Heart community share offer website, accessed 27 July 2020
  29. New Internationalist crowdfunds more than £700,000 to provide 'a more compelling and complete view of the world', accessed 27 July 2020
  30. New Internationalist magazine secures future after exceeding £500k crowdfunding target, accessed 27 July 2020
  31. New Internationalist 2017-8 Annual Report, accessed 26 March 2019.
  32. New Internationalist books page, accessed 27 July 2020
  33. Myriad Editions merge with New Internationalist, accessed 27 July 2020
  34. New Internationalist services page, accessed 27 July 2020
  35. Voinea, Anca (20 June 2013). "New Internationalist reporting on world poverty and inequality for more than 40 years". Co-operative News. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  36. New Internationalist history Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  38. New Internationalist crowdfunds more than £700,000 to provide 'a more compelling and complete view of the world', accessed 12 August 2020
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