Opinion magazines – pushed around and swirlied by media giants like Time Warner, which has negotiated and engineered new “periodical” postal rates (due to take effect July 15) that benefit the publishers of Entertainment Weekly and Vanity Fair at the considerable expense of smaller journals such as National Review and The Nation – are teaming up and fighting back. The letter below to Jim Miller, chairman of the Postal Board of Governors, is the latest show of unity among the ideologically diverse journals that have come up holding the short end of the postal-rate stick.

What can you do to help NR? First, get complete info about the raging battle against the Fourth Estate Bully Boys at our special Stamp Out the Rate Hikes page. Second, read the letter to Miller below. Third, to quote the great Howard Beale, I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change!

The Honorable James C. Miller, III
Chairman, Postal Board of Governors
U.S. Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W.
Room 3436
Washington, DC 20260-3436
June 27, 2007
Dear Chairman Miller,
We write to draw your attention to a serious crisis for small periodical publishers and request at least temporary relief. As you know from our letter of April 18th, we believe the recent decision by the Postal Service Board of Governors to approve the periodical rate increase recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission does a grave disservice to the small magazine publishers focused on politics and culture. The rate increases—many upwards of 20% in a single year—will cause shockwaves in our industry and endanger the future of many periodicals. We continue to believe the mission of the postal service to encourage the widespread distribution of political and cultural fare is critical to our democratic society.
That said, we write today to discuss a more practical matter. The USPS has yet to release its postal rate calculator. Without this tool, none of us can precisely calculate the prices we are expected to begin paying on July 15th. Without this tool, none of us can precisely evaluate alternative mailing practices. Without this tool, we cannot prepare our businesses for the dramatic rate increases and the corresponding impact on our operations and our readership.
The delayed release of the USPS rate calculator adds insult to injury. Even if the rate calculator were released today, we would be looking at two weeks to prepare before the deadline with the July 4th holiday in between. This strikes us as unreasonable by any fair standard.
We request that the implementation of the new rate structure be delayed at least 60 days beyond the date of release of the new rate calculator by the USPS. This is the only fair means of permitting publishers to prepare themselves for these massive rate increases.
As publishers of small magazines of politics and culture, we represent a wide variety of perspectives and ideas. We play an important role in the democratic political culture of this nation. Many of us struggle to make this business successful, and yet we remain committed to the goal of a rich marketplace of ideas. The new rate structure is a crippling blow as it is. We ask that you consider our request carefully and delay the implementation of the rate increase to permit publishers sufficient time to assess the results of the new rate calculator.
Sincerely,
The American Conservative, Ron Unz, Publisher
The American Prospect, Diane Straus Tucker, President and Publisher
The American Spectator, Alfred Regnery, Publisher
Columbia Journalism Review, Evan Cornog, Publisher
Commentary, Sarah M. Stern, Business Director
Commonweal, Thomas Baker, Publisher
Foreign Affairs, David Kellogg, Publisher
Human Events, Thomas S. Winter, President and Editor in Chief
In These Times, Joel Bleifuss, Editor and Publisher
Mother Jones, Jay Harris, President and Publisher
Ms. magazine, Katherine Spillar, Executive Editor
National Review, Jack Fowler, Publisher
The Nation, Teresa Stack, President
The New Republic, Elizabeth Sheldon, Publisher
New York Review of Books, Rea S. Hederman, Publisher
The Progressive, Dennis Best, Associate Publisher
UU World Magazine, Chris Walton, Editor
Washington Monthly, Nicholas Penniman, Publisher
World, Nick Eicher, Publisher