For-profit

The Atlantic

Website:

www.theatlantic.com%20%20%20

Location:

Washington, DC

Editor-in-Chief:

Jeffrey Goldberg

Formation:

1857

Owner:

The Emerson Collective

Issue Frequency:

10 issues per year

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

The Atlantic is a left-of-center literary, political, and ideas magazine that publishes ten issues per year. It was founded as The Atlantic Monthly in 1857 by several prominent American literary figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1 In 2017 the Emerson Collective, a left-of-center private grantmaking enterprise funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow and heir of Apple Computer executive Steve Jobs, purchased majority ownership. 2 Jeffrey Goldberg, previously a prominent writer for the magazine, was named editor-in-chief in October 2016. 3

In contrast to most of its editorial history, after 2016 political criticism became a much larger priority for The Atlantic. From its founding in 1857 to 2016, the publication had endorsed only two presidential candidates, but then did so for two elections in a row in 2016 and 2020, declaring in 2020 that President Donald Trump “poses a threat to our collective existence.” After Trump’s 2016 election, the magazine sharply increased the attention it dedicated to politicians and the presidency. From 2016 through 2019 (covering the 2016 election and first three years of the Trump administration), President Donald Trump was the subject of eight cover stories–all negative. This contrasts with President Barack Obama, who—following a cover story for his January 2009 inauguration—was not the subject of another cover story for the next two years. Similarly, from 2000 through 2003 (i.e.: the 2000 Presidential election and first three years of the George W. Bush administration) President George W. Bush was directly referenced in just one cover feature. 4  5

The leadership and ownership changes at The Atlantic since late 2016 have coincided with several controversies. Media accounts in the Wall Street Journal and The Daily Beast have noted the departure of numerous female staffers and high-profile journalists such as Ta-Nehisi Coates. 6 7 In the spring of 2018 right-of-center journalist Kevin D. Williamson was hired and then quickly fired by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, after left-leaning critics from NARAL Pro-Choice America protested anti-abortion comments made by Williamson four years earlier. 8

In September 2020 Jeffrey Goldberg authored a controversial story citing anonymous sources who claimed President Trump had disparaged the service of American military personnel during a trip to France in 2018. Several individuals present during the alleged incident, including even harsh Trump critics such as former advisor John Bolton, went on the record to dispute the circumstances alleged by the off-the-record accusers. Goldberg asserted his sources wished to remain anonymous because they “don’t want to be inundated with angry tweets and all the rest.” 9 10

Background

The Atlantic was founded as The Atlantic Monthly in 1857 by several prominent American literary figures—novelists and poets such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. An official history described the magazine’s founders as those residing on the “summit” of the nation’s “literary Olympus.” Lowell became the first editor. 11

As of 2020 the magazine publishes 10 print issues annually and additional content daily on its web page.

The first issue proclaimed the publication was a “journal of literature, politics, science, and the arts.” According to a retrospective written for the November 1994 issue, the following motives brought the magazine’s founders together in 1857:12

Among educated people throughout the United States the issue of slavery was obviously one of great moment. But so, too, was another matter, and in the baldest terms it might be said to have involved an attempt to define and create a distinctly American voice: to project an American stance, to promote something that might be called the American Idea. 13

The original mission statement laid out three areas of focus. Promoting American literature was listed first, though the statement clarified the editors would not exclude “foreign sources” and hoped to make the magazine “welcome wherever the English tongue is spoken or read.” The second mission objective—noted as a “critical department”—was to make the magazine “a true and fearless representative of Art” and “include the whole domain of aesthetics.” 14

The third and final mission objective listed was political:15

In Politics, The Atlantic will be the organ of no party or clique, but will honestly endeavor to be the exponent of what its conductors believe to be the American idea. It will deal frankly with persons and with parties, endeavoring always to keep in view that moral element which transcends all persons and parties, and which alone makes the basis of a true and lasting national prosperity. It will not rank itself with any sect of anties, but with that body of men which is in favor of Freedom, National Progress, and Honor, whether public or private. 16

The earliest political coverage focused on abolitionist politics. A retrospective of The Atlantic’s first 160 years lists 15 milestones from the magazine’s founding through 2015. It includes two significant Civil War/abolitionist items from 1862: an essay from Ralph Waldo Emerson essay calling for emancipation of slaves, and the first publication of the lyrics to Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” In the October 1860 issue, editor James Russell Lowell, writing for all the leadership of the magazine, made the extraordinary decision to endorse Abraham Lincoln for president. The magazine did not endorse another presidential candidate for the next 104 years. 17 18

Similarly, most of the other major historical milestones that might be considered “political” content addressed major ideas and issues, rather than political figures. Examples included an 1897 essay from then-young civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois titled “The Strivings of the Negro People,” Martin Luther King, Jr’s 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” a 1982 essay arguing for the adoption of the so-called “Broken Windows” policing policy, a 2002 essay analyzing the potential consequences of the then-impending U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and a 2014 essay proposing reparations for slavery. 19

The 15 milestones also include non-political literary and cultural items at the heart of the magazine’s mission, such as an 1870 memoir titled “English Governess at the Siamese Court” (which became the basis for the 1951 musical The King and I), and the 1915 publication of Robert Frost’s iconic poem “The Road Not Taken.” 20

Ownership and Management

Jeffrey Goldberg was named editor in chief of The Atlantic in October 2016 and held the position as of November 2020. Prior to being elevated to the top editorial spot, Goldberg had been a correspondent for the magazine since 2007 and had written numerous essays covering foreign policy in general and the Middle East in particular. 21

Just days prior to Goldberg’s promotion, the magazine endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, The Atlantic’s first presidential endorsement since 1964 and only the third in its history. In October 2020, the Goldberg-led publication made its fourth presidential endorsement for Democratic nominee (and eventual winner) Joe Biden. The essays were respectively titled “Against Donald Trump” (2016) and “The Case Against Donald Trump” (2020). The 2020 endorsement asserted Trump “poses a threat to our collective existence” and that “the choice voters face is spectacularly obvious.” 22 23

In July 2017, David G. Bradley, then the owner of The Atlantic, announced he was selling a majority stake in the magazine to the Emerson Collective, a left-of-center private grantmaking enterprise funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple Computer executive Steve Jobs. The announcement stated the Emerson Collective would likely assume “full ownership” of the publication within five years, or by summer of 2022. The reported purchase price for Jobs’ initial 70 percent stake was $100 million. 24 25

At the time of the purchase, The Atlantic was profitable. Its then-president Bob Cohn stated at that time that the print circulation had been increasing, during a period when rival publications were witnessing declines in print circulation, and that the website audience had increased 36 percent during the just the first half of 2017—with 42.3 million visitors during May 2017. Bradley remained as the operating partner of the magazine until November 2019, when The Atlantic announced he would be stepping back from his “executive” role and that Jobs would be assuming a direct leadership role over the organization. 26

According to a 2019 Wall Street Journal report, the magazine had been losing $10 million annually in the years prior to Bradley purchasing it and returning it to profitability. The increase in investment during the early years of Jobs’ ownership resulted in a return to deficit spending, though overall revenue increased 13 percent in 2018 and domestic (US) website visits increased 35 percent through the first half of 2019, compared to prior year. 27

The Wall Street Journal report also noted that changes in leadership and ownership since late 2016 had been controversial: 28

Several prominent female reporters have recently left. The publication just completed a yearlong study into the gender dynamics of its newsroom and has made efforts to address pay disparities, a person familiar with the matter said. In 2018, 75% of its hires were women, and 17 of its 23 senior editors are now women, the company said.

As the Atlantic expands its focus to compete more directly with outlets like Politico, Axios and even the Washington Post and the New York Times, some staffers say it has proven difficult to re-engineer the newsroom.

“It felt like the place was becoming a hot-take factory,” said one recently departed writer. “That can be profitable, of course, because hot takes don’t cost much.” 29

Similarly, a May 2019 report in the Daily Beast chronicled “long string of high-profile exits.” One example was the 2018 departure of radical-left Black author Ta-Nehisi Coates:30

Ta-Nehisi Coates, an iconic essayist on race and culture in America, left the magazine last year without taking a position elsewhere. His exit was a huge editorial blow for the magazine, but also set off some conflict inside the Washington, D.C. newsroom.

Controversies

“Losers” and “Suckers” Claims

A September 2020 report authored by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, cited “multiple sources” claiming President Donald Trump had disparaged the historical sacrifices made by American military personnel. The headline read “Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’” with a sub-headline sentence stating “The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, multiple sources tell The Atlantic.” 31

Both the content and context of the allegation was disputed in whole or in part by the president, his staff, and even some of his critics, including left-wing journalists.

The two opening paragraphs set the context and provided the sourcing for the allegation:

When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed. 32

John Bolton, the President’s former National Security Advisor turned Trump critic, was on the 2018 trip and involved in the discussion regarding the motive for the helicopter grounding and cancelling of the motorcade alternative. Despite having become a severe Trump critic who had by September 2020 stated that President Trump was not fit for office, Bolton gave the New York Times an eyewitness account of the incident that differed sharply from that presented by The Atlantic:33

Mr. Bolton said he was in the room at the ambassador’s residence when Mr. Trump arrived and Mr. [White House Chief of Staff John] Kelly told him that the helicopter trip had to be canceled. A two-hour motorcade would have put him too far away from Air Force One and the most capable communications array a president needs in case of an emergency, per usual protocol, Mr. Bolton said. “It was a straight weather call,” he said. 34

Bolton also told the Times he did not hear Trump make the disparaging comments: 35

John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser who has broken with him and called him unfit for office, said he was on the trip in question and never heard Mr. Trump make those remarks. “I didn’t hear that,” Mr. Bolton said in an interview. “I’m not saying he didn’t say them later in the day or another time, but I was there for that discussion.” 36

Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated: “I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion — this never happened.” And Jordan Karem, the former personal assistant to the president during period in question, replied to the story with a Twitter statement: “This is not even close to being factually accurate. Plain and simple, it just never happened.” 37 38

The Atlantic did not produce any sources willing to go on the record to support the magazine’s account. In an on-air interview shortly after the story was posted, CNN anchor Jim Sciutto asked Goldberg why all of his four sources refused to put their names behind the accusation: “Did they explain their thinking as to why they wouldn’t put their names to these accounts?”39

Goldberg replied: “They don’t want to be inundated with angry tweets and all the rest … In this case I decided that I felt I knew this information well enough, from high enough sources, and multiple sources, that I thought we should put it out.” 40

Media sources such as Fox News and the Associated Press later stated they had “confirmed” some aspects of Goldberg’s reporting, but also using off-the-record comments. 41

In a September 2020 essay, left-leaning journalist Glenn Greenwald was sharply critical of both the use of anonymous sources by The Atlantic and the assertion by other networks that the sourcing had been confirmed: 42

But if one looks at what they actually did, at what this “confirmation” consists of, it is the opposite of what that word would mean, or should mean, in any minimally responsible sense. AP, for instance, merely claims that “a senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to The Associated Press,” while Fox merely said “a former senior Trump administration official who was in France traveling with the president in November 2018 did confirm other details surrounding that trip.”

In other words, all that likely happened is that the same sources who claimed to Jeffrey Goldberg, with no evidence, that Trump said this went to other outlets and repeated the same claims — the same tactic that enabled MSNBC and CBS to claim they had “confirmed” the fundamentally false CNN story about [Donald] Trump Jr. receiving advanced access to the WikiLeaks archive. Or perhaps it was different sources aligned with those original sources and sharing their agenda who repeated these claims. Given that none of the sources making these claims have the courage to identify themselves, due to their fear of mean tweets, it is impossible to know. 43

Firing of Kevin D. Williamson

On March 22, 2018, The Atlantic hired right-leaning journalist Kevin D. Williamson, formerly of the right-of-center opinion journal National Review. Williamson was fired two weeks later, on April 5, following criticism from what the New York Times characterized as “influential Twitter users” regarding an anti-abortion comment Williamson had made on the social media platform four years earlier in 2014. During his brief employment, The Atlantic posted Williamson’s one and only commentary for the magazine, which was not about abortion policy. 44 45

Williamson later characterized the 2014 Twitter comment as a “trollish” reaction to a “silly” and “familiar pro-abortion argument: that pro-lifers should not be taken seriously in our claim that abortion is the willful taking of an innocent human life unless we are ready to punish women who get abortions with long prison sentences.” 46 47

In answer to the challenge, Williamson asserted that abortion should be equivalent to murder in the criminal codes, and as to how that might be applied in death penalty jurisdictions responded: “I have hanging more in mind.” He repeated the “hanging” quip during a subsequent National Review podcast addressing the same point. 48

Referencing the lack of seriousness behind the “hanging” comment, Williamson subsequently pointed to his published work record showing “long-stated reservations about capital punishment.” 49

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic and the man responsible for the hire, initially defended Williamson from criticisms over the Twitter comment. Goldberg said he had no intention of judging employees by their “worst tweets, or assertions, in isolation.” In announcing the hiring, Goldberg had said he wanted the magazine to be “a big tent for ideas and argument” and that he had “disagreed” with Williamson “more than I have agreed with him.” 50

After the announcement of Williamson’s hiring NARAL Pro-Choice America launched a “#FireKevin” campaign on Twitter, seeking to pressure The Atlantic into ending the journalist’s employment. 51 Writing of the incident later in the Wall Street Journal, Williamson said commentaries “denouncing” him also appeared in “the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic, Slate, the Huffington Post, Mother Jones, the Guardian and other publications.” 52

Goldberg withdrew his support and terminated Williamson after the left-leaning Media Matters for America reported on the podcast from 2014 in which Williamson continued to discuss the comment from his 2014 Tweet. Goldberg justified the change of mind by saying the podcast version of the statement, unlike the Twitter comment alone, was “callous and violent” and “contrary to The Atlantic’s tradition of respectful, well-reasoned debate, and to the values of our workplace.” 53

In a Wall Street Journal essay titled “When the Twitter Mob Came for Me,” Williamson wrote that he had warned Goldberg the left would resist his hiring:54

“You know, the campaign to have me fired will begin 11 seconds after you announce that you’ve hired me,” I told him. He scoffed. “It won’t be that bad,” he said. “The Atlantic isn’t the New York Times. It isn’t high church for liberals.” 55

In recounting the exchange, Williamson also verified it: “In preparing this account, I have confirmed my recollection of what Mr. Goldberg said with Mr. Goldberg himself.” 56

Williamson also wrote that as he was being fired, he had compared his situation to the late Christopher Hitchens. A controversial left-leaning journalist and frequent contributor to The Atlantic, Hitchens—according to Williamson—“directed shameful vitriol at Mother Teresa” and “was routinely denounced by people on the left for his harshly critical views of Islam.” But Hitchens was never separated from the magazine even as he had “routinely and gleefully gave occasion for offense.” 57

Goldberg granted the comparison with Hitchens, wrote Williamson, and then replied: “But Hitchens was in the family. You are not.” 58

Political Coverage and Bias

For most of its history The Atlantic was primarily a culture and ideas publication, with a comparatively low emphasis on partisan political disputes and personalities. The founding motto, still in use through 2018, was “Of No Party or Clique.” 59

For example, the online database of back issues for the years 2000 through 2003 (i.e.: the 2000 Presidential election and first three years of the George W. Bush administration) shows just five of 44 covers with headlines and artwork directly referencing political figures, with President Bush referenced in only one. A comparable period covering the 2016 Presidential election and first three years of the Trump administration (2016 through 2019) shows 11 of 42 covers showed contemporary political figures, with eight of them being candidate and then President Donald Trump. 60

The percentage The Atlantic’s content dedicated to the presidency sharply increased with the 2016 election and into the Trump administration. This content was overwhelmingly negative toward Trump.

Early Obama and George W. Bush Administrations

With the exceptions of the print editions for January 2001 and 2009, which coincided respectively with the inaugurations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the online back issues of The Atlantic show no other profiles and few criticisms or praise of the two new presidents during their first two years in office. 61 62 63 64

After the January 2009 edition President Obama was not the subject of another feature story for the first two years of his administration. His image appeared on two of the remaining 21 covers from March 2009 through December 2010, but none of the more than 420 features within those 21 issues appear to have dwelled on Obama specifically. The picture of the president on the April 2010 issue promoted two profiles of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal (then commanding U.S. troops in Afghanistan), plus an economic policy analysis regarding inflation. The Obama photo on the September 2009 cover promoted a health care policy and was not in any substantive way an essay about the president. 65 66

Similarly, excepting for the January 2001 edition following the inauguration of incoming President George W. Bush, none of the remaining covers and features through the end of 2002 focused on the new president. The February 2001 issue was a dedicated retrospective on the just-concluded presidency of Bill Clinton. 67 68

Before 2016 Election

The Atlantic continued its relatively light focus on politics right up until the beginning of the 2016 election. Of the 31 magazine issues published from 2013 through 2015, the three-year period before the 2016 election, President Obama appeared on the cover of just one. Of the 450 or more features and reports within those 31 issues, just five were specific profiles of President Obama. 69 70 71

Two of the 31 issues during the period contained favorable profiles of Bill and Hillary Clinton: the October 2014 issue included an interview of Bill Clinton by Atlantic editor James Bennet, and the March 2015 issue contained a long essay critical of Hillary Clinton’s critics. 72 73

Only ten other stories during this period involved profiles of other contemporary political figures, most of them of prospective or former Presidential candidates or their families: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (D), former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), former Vice President Al Gore (D), U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), the wife of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), then-candidate Donald Trump (R), and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R). 74 75 76

Trump Administration

In contrast to the coverage of the two prior presidents during the first two years of their administrations, President Trump was the subject of five cover stories and at least sixteen total features over the 20 print issues following the January 2017 edition (which coincided with his inauguration).

The features and covers were all negative:

  • March 2017: Cover – One essay. An image of Trump appeared on the March 2017 cover under the title “How to Build an Autocracy.” Written by contributor and former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum just weeks after the new administration took office, the profile was analysis focused on this premise: “Donald Trump will not set out to build an authoritarian state. His immediate priority seems likely to be to use the presidency to enrich himself.” 77 78
  • April 2017: One essay. Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway was the subject of a profile implicitly negative regarding the president titled: “Kellyanne’s Alternative Universe: Will the truth ever catch up with Trump’s most skilled spin artist?”79
  • May 2017: Cover – four essays. An image of actor Alec Baldwin being made up to perform his Saturday Night Live impersonation of Trump appeared on the May 2017 cover, under the headline “Can Satire Save the Republic?” The cover story was titled “Alec Baldwin’s Quest to Conquer Trump.” A related essay was titled: “How Late Night Comedy Fueled the Rise of Trump.” Two other profiles were critiques of the brand-new administration’s foreign policy: “The Brilliant Incoherence of Trump’s Foreign Policy” and “Trump’s Plan to End Europe.” 80
  • June 2017: Two essays. One essay was titled “Will Trump Destroy the Dollar? How a clash with the Fed could stoke inflation and destabilize the economy.” The other title was: “Why Drag Is the Ultimate Retort to Trump: RuPaul versus the White House.” 81
  • October 2017: Cover – three essays. The cover portrays a sinking White House under the headline: “The Trump Presidency: A Damage Report.” The three cover sub-headlines promoting the related essays were: “The Whitest White House,” “Will American Democracy Recover?” and “Sudden Decline of a Superpower.” 82
  • January/February 2018. One essay. The essay was titled: “God’s Plan for Mike Pence: Will the vice president—and the religious right—be rewarded for their embrace of Donald Trump?”83
  • March 2018. One essay. The title of the feature was: “China Loves Trump: The people love a winner. The leadership loves a dupe.” 84
  • April 2018: Cover – One essay. The cover feature headline was: “How Evangelicals Lost Their Way and Got Hooked by Trump.” 85
  • June 2018: One essay. An interview with Saturday Night Live performer Seth Meyers is titled: “Seth Meyers Has ‘Very Fond’ Memories of Roasting Trump: “Trump was asking for it,” the comedian says.” The interview questions and answers mostly conform to the subject of the title. 86
  • October 2018: Cover – One essay. The cover title was: “Is Democracy Dying? The Slow-Motion Crisis in America and the World.” Titles of several essays addressing this concern were also promoted on the cover, the first of which was from contributor David Frum: “Trump Builds His Autocracy.” 87

References

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