The Internationalist Magazine: Voices of Reason in the 21st Century
The last five years have exposed a fundamental weakness in media coverage of world affairs that has left Americans less informed about the world around them and without the analytical tools needed to solve our world’s problems. Cable and network news anchors offer softball questions to leaders of both parties on important foreign affairs issues, such as how to fight the war on terror, how to deal with Iran and North Korea, and how to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian issue, among others. As well, while the proliferation of cable news networks in the 1990s promised more comprehensive coverage for international affairs, it has only proven to be a net cast widely for celebrity news and bellowing political analysts. News shows like “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and reality shows like “American Idol” have contributed to an increasing ignorance of the realities of our world today by offering an outlet to avoid difficult choices at home and abroad.
Along with the mediocrity of American media has developed the inability of politicians, Democratic or Republicans, to get anything done in an increasingly partisan atmosphere in Washington, D.C. The next generation of leaders and opinion makers will be left not only to deal with the problems of global insecurity but domestic problems like Social Security and health care. It is incumbent upon the current generation of college students to become more informed not only about the theory of government or the history of politics, but the tools which can bring change to their communities and to the world. After all, the United States makes the majority of decisions economically and diplomatically for a great mass of people who have no voice. This type of responsibility requires reasoned voices and active minds.
The tradition of political discourse on campuses across America has always been fiercely partisan and typically developed around protest movements rather than substantive ideas on policy. One magazine, the Internationalist, has led the way in developing a new type of discourse for the generation currently attending and graduating from college. As opposed other magazines targeted at college students such as U Magazine and Co-Ed Magazine, this discourse involves open debate on global issues such as human rights, sustainable development, and diplomacy. The Internationalist’s core of regular and guest writers focus not only on the events of the day but they look towards a day far down the road in which their ideas are part of a chorus, not a cacophony.
The Internationalist started in 2003 out of then-college senior Nick Edwards’ interest in international affairs and his concern that college students weren’t being exposed to a broad range of ideas on global issues. Edwards and three other students at the University of Puget Sound put out 1,000 copies three times a year in 2003, receiving great feedback from a student population starving for unfiltered news and discourse on the biggest issues facing them as the future vanguard of political ideas. In the year 2004, with all four original founders of the magazine graduated, the demand for more issues of the Internationalist was great enough to warrant printing 10,000 more issues three times a year for 50 colleges nationwide. The Internationalist has continued to grow steadily since 2004, with its current print run at 25,000 copies quarterly distributed to 160 colleges and universities nationwide. By 2007, the fifteen person staff out of Seattle, Washington, plans an expansion of their print base to 150,000 copies to over 300 schools of higher education.
The Internationalist’s distinctive approach to international affairs is but one of the benefits it offers its readership over television, radio, and print media. The magazine’s print version allows it to go more in depth on bigger issues, like the global battle with the AIDS virus or the political and historical contexts of the Middle Eastern conflicts. As a corollary, the Internationalist web articles and blogs allow more immediate responses to issues like the recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Saddam Hussein tribunal, and evidence of a resurgent Japanese nationalism. Perhaps its most important benefit, however, is that the Internationalist penetrates a growing college market that needs the type of discourse brought in the magazine’s print and web pages. College students have, by necessity, become more discerning media observers. This has been proven by the rapid ascension of John Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, as the top source of news for many college students.
The Internationalist magazine provides a more substantial and in-depth analysis of international affairs than any other resource available at present. The magazine’s mission to provide a source for discussion and an exchange of ideas is critical to college students today because of the inadequate presence of such a venue in print, web, or television media today. As well, while academic pursuits are enriching to students and encourage life long learning, magazines like the Internationalist provide a median between academic ideas and real world application. Indeed, the Internationalist is not as stale or stuffy as magazines like The Atlantic or The New Republic, which offer more measured academic language for international affairs. The Internationalist offers that rare combination of substance and style that is appealing to a new generation of thinkers and leaders. In this sense, its ability to provide knowledge with its own distinct voice makes it attractive to college students and feeds their curious minds at a time when they are most intellectually malleable. Instead of feeding their minds with rhetoric, the Internationalist exercises their mind in preparation of tough decisions and discussions down the road.
