In These Times - History

History

In 1976 historian and former editor of Studies on the Left, James Weinstein (1926–2005) launched the politically progressive journal In These Times. He sought to model the newsweekly on the early 20th century socialist paper the Appeal to Reason. "We intend to speak to corporate capitalism as the great issue of our time, and to socialism as the popular movement that will meet it" he told the Chicago Sun Times on the eve of the first issue's release. While Weinstein himself was involved with both the New American Movement and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, he wanted the journal to be independent of any one political party or faction. Thus, over the years In These Times has published a wide variety contributors - from anarchists, to union members, to centrists.

During the 1980s In These Times won notoriety for its investigative reporting of the Iran-Contra scandal. It has since broken stories on the deliberate destruction of Iraqi water treatment plants by US forces during the first Gulf War, global warming, and on the emergence of Mad Cow disease. During the 1980s, and up to 1992, it was a biweekly newspaper and a democratic socialist competitor to the Guardian (US), which was a biweekly newspaper that was closer to Marxist-Leninism.

Senior In These Times editor Silja J.A. Talvi won two National Council on Crime and Delinquency PASS Awards (2005, 2006) for her reporting on the impact of three strikes sentencing on African American men, and on the trend toward privatization of the prison system.

In These Times was awarded Utne Reader's Independent Press Award for Best Political Coverage in 2006.