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June 1993, Page 111 Publishers' Page
You Print 116 Pages and What ...Do you get? Another month older ...
And Deeper in Debt!In fact this is the largest issue we've ever printed. With both the peacetalks and Bosnia dying, there was a lot to say. And still there wasn't room for all of our "monthly columns" and special reports.
So We'll Probably Stay Big...Through the summer. And then we'll have to make a decision. Raise our subscription rates a smidge...
Or Go Back to Slim and Trim.We'd like your thoughts—particularly on how we can reconcile the needs of those who can pay a bit more for a bigger magazine, those on very limited incomes who say they desperately need the magazine to keep informed and effective...
But Can't Pay a Cent More.And, the very large number of readers who don't mind paying a healthy dollop for their personal subscription, but privately resent having to pay more for the "opinion molder" subscriptions they donate to congressmembers, local editors, talk show hosts, clergy, teachers and libraries.
The Economics Seem Immutable.If it costs us $19 to service a $19 subscription, which is the case with the larger format, how in the heck are we going to service another 15,000 "opinion molder" subscriptions at $12.50?
Well, We're Working on It.Meanwhile, we hope those who can afford to join our "Angels' Choir" will so without waiting until the last of the tax year. And we hope you buy your Middle East books from us.
(Actually, You Have Little Choice.)And, we hope you'll give a few more of those opinion molder subscriptions while the price still is right than you did last year.
Because Expansion Is What ...We're all about. As long as circulation grows, we'll keep publishing... With a Lot of Help from Our Friends.
Another Thing about More Pages. .Is that they allow us to cram in some more advertising.
We've Always Been of Two ...Minds about this. We don't like to advertise other publications, except on an exchange basis.
We're Even Less Enthusiastic ...About political groups. We're afraid that our readers will mix in their minds the positions our advertisers take with our own. But we've got to ...
Make Ends Meet!So let's lay out, here and now ...
Who We Are.We are the American Educational Trust, publishers of the monthly Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Translations From the Hebrew Press by Dr. Israel Shahak, the weekly Middle East Clipboard and the daily FAXCLIPS, and
Purveyors of Books...About the Middle East to the world.
We Are Not ...The ADC, CNI, JCOME, Islamic Book Center, Islamic Book Service, ANERA, AMIDEAST, United Palestine Appeal, American Bahraini Friendship Society or any of the other organizations whose advertisements appear in our pages. We love being the ...
Townhall and Marketplace ...For all such groups. But for our own survival, it's important that readers understand that only a donation to the American Educational Trust or the tax-exempt AET Library Endowment is a donation to this magazine and its sponsors.
Recently a Reader Called ...To ask the addresses to which she should send donations to two of the political groups whose advertisements we carried. We gave her the addresses but ventured the hope that she was saving a little...
Something for Us."Why?" she asked. "They do things. You just publish a magazine!" Well, it's a little more complicated than that. Just think of what's involved in keeping current on the exact amount every member of (or candidate for) Congress has taken since 1978 in donations from 116 active pro-Israel PACs. And...
Keeping Our Book, Stealth PACs...Which contains all this information, up to date and in print. We could ramble on, but won't. We think what we do is important. And it costs a lot more to get one issue of a 116-page magazine edited and printed than to hire a taxi to take a group of two or three members to visit their representatives in Congress.
So When You're Writing...Those checks, please bear that in mind.
Back to Those Political Positions...In general, we ask advertisers not to make political statements in their ads. When we print articles by writers who also serve as officers or directors of other groups, we at least have veto power over the contents. The only ties we have with the groups that advertise, however, are a long-standing special subscription arrangement with ADC, that enables their members to subscribe to the Washington Report through ADC at the opinion molder rate, and a brand new one with CNI which gives their members in the $50 category a gratis subscription to the Washington Report (see their ad on pages 104-106). We also assure our subscribers that...
Our Mailing List is Protected.Our subscription list, and your names, never leave our hands.
Nor Do We Solicit Donations...By telephone. Ever! We write you about renewing your own or your opinion molder subscriptions. So when your phone rings...
It's Not From Us!And if you get mailed or telephoned funding solicitations from any Middle East-related organizations, it's because you answered someone else's ad, not ours. We hope, of course, you can help us all. But if you have to choose,
Don't Forget the Folks ...Who brought you!
Make a Difference ...We're a little down, after printing an autopsy report on the death of the peace process. We hope our diagnosis of the patient's condition is wrong but, with all due humility, we're usually right.
If You Share Our Dismay ...You might use the mail addresses and phone and fax numbers in the box on the next page to say so to people who might be in a position to apply CPR to the peace talks so many people worked so long and so hard to start.
We're More Hopeful That.The U.S. will stop the genocide in Bosnia. But we're not so sure of this untried president, who may be a little too much in the Lyndon Johnson pattern-driven by polls rather than driving them. Just in case he needs a prod to do the right thing, and if you share our view of what the right thing is, you might want to tell him, the secretary of state and your representatives in Congress. If you do, you can help...
Make a Difference—This Month. |