Trouble at Harper's

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A *Harper's* cover from 1905
A *Harper's* cover from 1905

A former editor for the American monthly Harper’s has written on losing his job. Theodore Ross’s job was recently made redundant at the venerable masthead after publisher John R. MacArthur decided to cut production costs. News of the impending cuts led to a campaign to raise US$50,000 from readers - an indication of the loyalty the magazine generates. The donation was declined. Ross calls the current climate in publishing a “depression”. Nonetheless, though he sees some of the magazine’s problems as structural, he believes most of the trouble is “self-inflicted”.