Washington Monthly is a left-of-center magazine and media outlet that serves as a political watchdog and commentator on Washington D.C. politics. Washington Monthly is known for espousing neoliberalism, a more pro-market or pro-business variant of traditional American liberalism conceived by Washington Monthly founder and former editor-in-chief Charles Peters.

History

Washington Monthly was founded in 1969 by Charles Peters as a watchdog for corruption committed by liberals and conservatives. Peters was a New Deal-supporting Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and ran the West Virginia operations for John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. After Kennedy was elected, Peters was influential in the founding of the U.S. Peace Corps and served as its first head of evaluations. Washington Monthly was launched as a for-profit company with investments from Jay Rockefeller, Singer Sewing fortune heir Alfred Clark, Louis Marx toy company heir Louis Marx Jr., Joseph Crowley, and Peters’s parents. ^{1 2}

In 2002, Washington Monthly was described as “teeter[ing] on the edge of financial ruin since it began in 1969.” The outlet burned through its initial $400,000 investment in four years. In 1972, Washington Monthly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and Peters mortgaged his home to keep it afloat. The outlet raised another $300,000 soon afterward. ^{3 4}

Peters worked as editor-in-chief of the Washington Monthly and wrote a column until his retirement in 2001. After his departure, the outlet again neared bankruptcy until it restructured into a nonprofit and received a promise of $500,000 to $1 million in funding from Markos Kounalakis, a journalist and businessman who had already invested $200,000. ^{5 6}

Kounalakis is currently the president, publisher emeritus, and strategic advisory board member of Washington Monthly. ⁷

Washington Monthly was known for offering writers low pay and long hours; Peters’s replacement, Paul Glastris, commented on Washington Monthly’s restructuring by saying, ”We will retain the sweatshop business model, but with more and better food for the workers.” ⁸

Washington Monthly developed a reputation for functioning as a “boot camp for journalists.” Ambitious journalists would work at the Washington Monthly for a few years before being hired by larger outlets for more pay. Famous Washington Monthly alumni include Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, Slate founder Michael Kinsley, and Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter. ^{9 10}

In 2008, Common Cause and Washington Monthly considered a merger. The Washington Post commented that it was “pretty strange” for a lobbying group to merge with a newspaper, but Common Cause had published its own magazine from 1980 to 1996. The merger talks ultimately fell apart. ^{11 12}

Politics

The New York Times has described Washington Monthly as “the quasi-official organ of the neoliberal vanguard,” with politics most similar to those of President Bill Clinton: generally left-of-center but with centrist to right-of-center positions on economics and welfare policy. ¹³

Washington Monthly founder Charles Peters has been attributed with coining the term, “neoliberal” in the 1982 article, “A Neo-liberal Manifesto.” ¹⁴ Peters has contrasted neoliberalism with standard American liberalism due to differing economic views: ¹⁵

Neoliberals differ from conventional liberals both in our ideas and in our approach […] We care about human problems, but we realize liberalism went too far in endorsing big government and being tolerant of crime. Liberals need to support and embrace entrepreneurship and small businesses. ¹⁶

Peters has also said, ”One of the fundamental principles of neoliberalism is respect for entrepreneurship […] That didn’t come from some high-minded thinking. It came from my experience of trying to make a go of it at The [Washington] Monthly.” ¹⁷

Bias and Accuracy

Media Bias/Fact Check gives Washington Monthly a “left-center” bias and an accuracy evaluation of “high.” ¹⁸

Ad Fontes Media gives Washington Monthly a “strong left” bias and an accuracy evaluation of “generally reliable.” ¹⁹

AllSides gives Washington Monthly a “leans left” bias. ²⁰

In January 2021, freelance journalist Lauren Wolfe was fired from the New York Times over claims of bias after she made positive Tweets about incoming President Joe Biden and negative tweets about outgoing President Donald Trump. In May, Wolfe became a regular contributor to Washington Monthly. In July, Washington Monthly published Wolfe’s piece, “I’m a Biased Journalist and I’m Okay With That.” ^{21 22 23}

College Rankings

Washington Monthly creates an annual college rankings list that uses alternative metrics to traditional rankings, such as the annual list created by U.S. News and World Report. Washington Monthly uses “three equally weighted portions: social mobility, research, and community and national service,” as opposed to traditional metrics like “wealth, prestige, and exclusivity.” As a result, Washington Monthly’s rankings diverge from the mainstream considerably. For instance, in 2023, Washington Monthly ranked Harvey Mudd College as the top liberal arts school in the country, while U.S. News and World Report ranked it number 29. ^{24 25}

Washington Monthly was the first major outlet to rank community colleges. The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) turned down a request for data to help Washington Monthly make its evaluations because it believed that community colleges cannot possibly be ranked like traditional four-year schools. The CCSSE told an interviewer: “I explained in as many ways as I knew how that it was a really dumb idea to use CCSSE data or any other data to rank community colleges.” ²⁶

Leadership

Paul Glastris has been editor-in-chief of Washington Monthly since 2001. Glastris was a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2001. ²⁷

Funding

Washington Monthly has received funding from Arnold Ventures, the ECMC Foundation, the Education Writers Association, the Foundation for Civic Leadership, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the Schumann Media Center, the Stephen M. Silberstein Foundation, and the WhyNot Initiative. ²⁸

From 2010 to 2011, Washington Monthly received $100,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. ²⁹

Billionaire financier Warren Buffet has invested in Washington Monthly. ³⁰

1. Bowman Mills, Nikki. “Tilting at Windmills: How Charles Peters Helped JFK Win West Virginia.” WV Living. Spring 2021. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://wvliving.com/tilting-at-windmills-how-charlie-peters-helped-jfk-win-west-virginia/.
2. Cooper, Matthew. “Charlie Peters, Washington Monthly Founder and First Peace Corps Head of Evaluations, Turns 96.” Peace Corps Worldwide. December 22, 2022. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/charlie-peters-turns-96/.
3. Bowman Mills, Nikki. “Tilting at Windmills: How Charles Peters Helped JFK Win West Virginia.” WV Living. Spring 2021. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://wvliving.com/tilting-at-windmills-how-charlie-peters-helped-jfk-win-west-virginia/.
4. Carr, David. “MEDIA; New Life for Washington Watchdog.” The New York Times. April 22, 2002. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/22/business/media-new-life-for-washington-watchdog.html.
5. “Charles Peters’ Bio.” Understanding Government. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20140525195253/http://understandinggov.org/about/president-staff/charles-peters-bio/.
6. Carr, David. “MEDIA; New Life for Washington Watchdog.” The New York Times. April 22, 2002. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/22/business/media-new-life-for-washington-watchdog.html.
7. “About.” Washington Monthly. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://washingtonmonthly.com/about/.
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9. Carr, David. “MEDIA; New Life for Washington Watchdog.” The New York Times. April 22, 2002. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/22/business/media-new-life-for-washington-watchdog.html.
10. Bowman Mills, Nikki. “Tilting at Windmills: How Charles Peters Helped JFK Win West Virginia.” WV Living. Spring 2021. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://wvliving.com/tilting-at-windmills-how-charlie-peters-helped-jfk-win-west-virginia/.
11. Birnbaum, Jeffrey H. “Common Cause, Washington Monthly Explore a Common Future.” Washington Post. February 19, 2008. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/19/ST2008021901252.html.
12. Calderone, Michael. “Washington Monthly not merging with Common Cause.” Politico. May 27, 2008. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0508/Washington_Monthly_not_merging_with_Common_Cause.html.
13. Carr, David. “MEDIA; New Life for Washington Watchdog.” The New York Times. April 22, 2002. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/22/business/media-new-life-for-washington-watchdog.html.
14. Peters, Charles. “A Neo-liberal’s Manifesto.” Washington Monthly. September 5, 1982. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1982/09/05/a-neo-liberals-manifesto/21cf41ca-e60e-404e-9a66-124592c9f70d/?utm_term=.d0f8364d28f2.
15. Bowman Mills, Nikki. “Tilting at Windmills: How Charles Peters Helped JFK Win West Virginia.” WV Living. Spring 2021. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://wvliving.com/tilting-at-windmills-how-charlie-peters-helped-jfk-win-west-virginia/.
16. Bowman Mills, Nikki. “Tilting at Windmills: How Charles Peters Helped JFK Win West Virginia.” WV Living. Spring 2021. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://wvliving.com/tilting-at-windmills-how-charlie-peters-helped-jfk-win-west-virginia/.
17. Carr, David. “MEDIA; New Life for Washington Watchdog.” The New York Times. April 22, 2002. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/22/business/media-new-life-for-washington-watchdog.html.
18. “Washington Monthly – Bias and Credibility.” Washington Monthly. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/washington-monthly/.
19. “Washington Monthly Bias and Reliability.” Ad Fontes Media. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://adfontesmedia.com/washington-monthly-bias-and-reliability/.
20. “Washington Monthly.” AllSides. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.allsides.com/news-source/washington-monthly.
21. Wolfe, Lauren. “I’m a Biased Journalist and I’m Okay With That.” Washington Monthly. July 9, 2021. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/07/09/im-a-biased-journalist-and-im-okay-with-that/.
22. Pompeo, Joe. ““We Can’t Have That”: Inside The New York Times’ Firing of Lauren Wolfe.” Vanity Fair. January 25, 2021. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/inside-the-new-york-times-firing-of-lauren-wolfe.
23. “Lauren Wolfe.” Washington Monthly. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://washingtonmonthly.com/author/lauren-wolfe/page/2/.
24. Drozdowski, Mark J. “Washington Monthly College Rankings Redefine Excellence.” Best Colleges. September 1, 2023. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/analysis/washington-monthly-college-rankings-redefine-excellence/.
25. “A Note on Methodology: 4-year Colleges and Universities.” Washington Monthly. August 27, 2023. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/08/27/a-note-on-methodology-4-year-colleges-and-universities-14/.
26. Jaschik, Scott. “New Rankings Controversy – Over Community Colleges.” Inside Higher Ed. August 19, 2007. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/20/new-rankings-controversy-over-community-colleges.
27. “Paul Glastris.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulglastris/.
28. “About.” Washington Monthly. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://washingtonmonthly.com/about/.
29. ^“Washington Monthly Corporation.” Carnegie Corporation of New York. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.carnegie.org/grants/grants-database/grantee/washington-monthly-corporation/#!/grants/grants-database/grant/33702.0/.
30. Carr, David. “MEDIA; New Life for Washington Watchdog.” The New York Times. April 22, 2002. Accessed September 27, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/22/business/media-new-life-for-washington-watchdog.html.