After more than two decades, The Weekly Standard will be publishing its last issue and closing its doors this month.
Clarity Media Group, which owns the Standard’s publisher, MediaDC, made the expected announcement Friday, noting that the magazine will publish its final issue on December 17, according to CNN.
The Weekly Standard’s editor-at-large, Bill Kristol, tweeted out a response a short time later.
All good things come to an end. And so, after 23 years, does The Weekly Standard. I want to express my gratitude to our readers and my admiration for my colleagues. We worked hard to put out a quality magazine, and we had a good time doing so. And we have much more to do. Onward!
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 14, 2018
“For more than twenty years The Weekly Standard has provided a valued and important perspective on political, literary and cultural issues of the day,” MediaDC chairman Ryan McKibben said in a press release. “The magazine has been home to some of the industry’s most dedicated and talented staff and I thank them for their hard work and contributions, not just to the publication, but the field of journalism.”
“I’m proud that we’ve remained both conservative and independent, providing substantive reporting and analysis based on facts, logic and reason.” @stephenfhayes https://t.co/H6lBuSUSrt
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) December 14, 2018
Employees of the conservative publication, which has been highly critical of President Donald Trump, were directed to clear out their desks by the end of the day.
People at the Weekly Standard have been told to clear out their offices by 5 pm today, in case you were wondering what Clarity Media is like.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) December 14, 2018
“This is a volatile time in American journalism and politics,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Stephen Hayes wrote in a note to the staff on Friday. “Many media outlets have responded to the challenges of the moment by prioritizing affirmation over information, giving into the pull of polarization and the lure of clickbait.”
“I’m proud that we’ve remained both conservative and independent, providing substantive reporting and analysis based on facts, logic and reason,” he said of the publication that was founded in 1995 by Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes.
The Weekly Standard is no more. Here is the press release announcing its end. pic.twitter.com/kfFRhBFqzF
— Jason Schwartz (@JasonSchwartz) December 14, 2018
There were scathing criticisms leveled at the publisher for choosing to shutter the magazine rather than sell it and many, like contributing editor John Podhoretz, unloaded on Twitter.
So there are non-disparagement clauses in the severance packages being given to the staffers at the Weekly Standard.
I’m not a staffer.
There will be much disparagement in this space and elsewhere, and factual disparagement as well.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) December 14, 2018
Clarity Media said everybody had to leave Standard by 5, and didn’t provide boxes for people to put their stuff in.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) December 14, 2018
There were buyers. Potential buyers. In September, Clarity Media told those looking for buyers to stand down. Why would a company not wish to entertain a potential sale? Because it wanted to kill the magazine and harvest it.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) December 14, 2018
Many opined the loss of the “magazine that espouses traditional conservatism,” as noted by CNN.
This is very sad. I’ve read the @weeklystandard from the day it started and long admired its tough-minded reporting and often brilliant (and funny) writing. A loss for journalism. https://t.co/t6uXZwsyDn
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) December 14, 2018
The Weekly Standard: an always-interesting magazine, with sterling writers and editors, the best of competitors. The world is a less interesting and informed place without it. Hopefully everybody finds good spots in other venues. pic.twitter.com/rxnTXnWVwc
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) December 14, 2018
1. The demise of the Weekly Standard is another sad sign of opinion journalism’s decline in the Twitter age. There seems to be little room now for conservative or liberal publications that maintain some measure of independence from purely partisan or ideological imperatives.
— Timothy Noah (@TimothyNoah1) December 14, 2018
The Weekly Standard set a very high one. Smart, moral, thoughtful, funny, excellent in every way. A joy to read truly and a home for great writers and journalists.
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) December 14, 2018
The center-right is losing a publication that — whether you agreed with them or not — valued differing opinions, took principled stands and fostered intellectual debate. https://t.co/rAGB0iCkXf
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) December 14, 2018
The Weekly Standard is closing down because articles full of sentences full of words are irrelevant to the conservative political process. The conservative political process is best served by leading a mob in a short, hateful, primal chant directed at an enemy. Trump proved that.
— JRehling (@JRehling) December 14, 2018
Many saw its demise coming as it vociferously attacked Trump and its influence dwindled. Those who were critical of the publication and its tone were also vocal on Twitter.
The @weeklystandard is shutting down, ending one of the only conservative outlets that consistently stood in opposition to Trump. @JasonSchwartz https://t.co/3JZIehlvkH
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) December 14, 2018
the journalistic lamentations for the weekly standard today will be disgusting. its a disgusting magazine that pushed war, racism, and hatred into the veins of america. its not dying for the right reasons but it deserved to die. it added nothing.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) December 14, 2018
Bill Kristol couldn’t successfully manage a niche conservasoy magazine, but he claims he could manage the country better than President Trumphttps://t.co/W6pFYHH2u5
— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) December 14, 2018
People at the Weekly Standard have been told to clear out their offices by 5 pm today. They are shuttering
It’s sad to see the young writers lose their jobs at Christmastime, and most of them had nothing to do with their terrible leaders like Kristol
— Jack Posobiec ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@JackPosobiec) December 14, 2018
I love Jesus, hate it when people lose jobs, but don’t feel bad for kristol and how the weekly standard fell apart. They allowed their hatred of trump to define them.
— Brian Rairdon (@tennbrian1) December 14, 2018
But there was a push back by some who argued that the loss of the 23-year-old magazine was not, in fact, due to its anti-Trump agenda.
the Weekly Standard’s fall is, i think, less about Trump/Trumpism and more about the overall pattern of media outlets being stripped for parts by owners who don’t care about the idea of journalism, and it’s depressing to see as another incident in that ongoing story
— Seth D. Michaels ?? (@sethdmichaels) December 14, 2018
The collapse of The Weekly Standard is a horrible day for conservatism and the media writ large. If you’re making it all about Trump, think harder and forget about your TDS for a little while.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 14, 2018
As if the market has anything to do with conservative publications that are historically money losers. The weekly standard existed at the whims of donors who wanted their propaganda published, not because of market demand.
— slinkymaster (@slinkymaster) December 14, 2018
It is incredibly sad to see the Weekly Standard shutting down, and if you’re celebrating it, you don’t get what this means.
— Joe Christmasham (@JoePCunningham) December 14, 2018
“There is no real reason we are witnessing the magazine’s demise other than deep pettiness and a personal desire for bureaucratic revenge on the part of a penny-ante Machiavellian who works for its parent company,” Podhoretz wrote in a scathing op-ed.
“There would at least be a larger meaning to the Standard’s end if it were being killed because it was hostile to Donald Trump. But I do not believe that is the case,” he added. “Rather, I believe the fissures in the conservative movement and the Republican party that have opened up since Trump’s rise provided the company man with a convenient argument to make to the corporation’s owner, Philip Anschutz, that the company could perhaps harvest the Standard’s subscriber-base riches and then be done with it.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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