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''Reason'' is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the
Reason Foundation The Reason Foundation is an American libertarian think tank that was founded in 1978. The foundation publishes the magazine ''Reason''. Based in Los Angeles, California, it is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. According to its web site, the f ...
. The magazine has a circulation of around 50,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
''.


History

''Reason'' was founded in 1968 by Lanny Friedlander (1947–2011), a student at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
, as a more-or-less monthly
mimeographed A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the pro ...
publication. In 1970 it was purchased by Robert W. Poole Jr., Manuel S. Klausner, and Tibor R. Machan, who set it on a more regular publishing schedule. As the monthly print magazine of "free minds and free markets", it covers politics, culture, and ideas with a mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews. During the 1970s and 80s, the magazine's contributors included
Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...
,
Murray Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian ...
,
Thomas Szasz Thomas Stephen Szasz ( ; hu, Szász Tamás István ; 15 April 1920 – 8 September 2012) was a Hungarian-American academic and psychiatrist. He served for most of his career as professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate M ...
, and
Thomas Sowell Thomas Sowell (; born June 30, 1930) is an American author, economist, political commentator and academic who is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he becam ...
. In 1978, Poole, Klausner, and Machan created the associated Reason Foundation, in order to expand the magazine's ideas into policy research.
Marty Zupan Martha "Marty" L. Zupan (born April 5, 1949) is the President Emeritus of the Institute for Humane Studies. Biography Zupan received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and psychology from the State University of New York at Fredonia. In 1975, she ...
joined ''Reason'' in 1975, and served through the 1980s as managing editor and editor-in-chief, leaving in 1989.
Virginia Postrel Virginia Inman Postrel (born January 14, 1960) is an American political and cultural writer of broadly libertarian, or classical liberal, views. She is a recipient of the Bastiat Prize (2011). Early life and education Virginia Inman was born ...
was editor-in-chief of the magazine from July 1989 to January 2000. She founded the magazine's website in 1995.
Nick Gillespie Nicholas John Gillespie (; born August 7, 1963) is an American libertarian journalist who was editor-in-chief of ''Reason'' magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined ...
became editor-in-chief in 2000.
Erik Spiekermann Erik Spiekermann (born 30 May 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony) is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design. Biography Spiekermann studied art hi ...
, the designer of the Meta typeface, headed a redesign of ''Reason'' in 2001, aiming for a look that is "cleaner, more modern, making use of the Meta typeface throughout". In June 2004, subscribers to ''Reason'' magazine received a personalized issue that had their name, and a
satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
photo of their home or workplace on the cover. The concept was to demonstrate the power of public databases, as well as the customized printing capabilities of Xeikon's printer, according to then editor-in-chief Nick Gillespie. The move was seen by David Carr of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as "the ultimate in customized publishing", as well as "a remarkable demonstration of the growing number of ways databases can be harnessed." In 2008, ''Reason''s website was named a
Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...
Honoree in the magazine category. That same year,
Matt Welch Matthew Lee Welch (born July 31, 1968) is an American blogger, journalist, author, and libertarian political pundit. Early life Welch was born on July 31, 1968 in Bellflower, California. He was raised in Long Beach, California. He attended UC ...
became magazine's editor-in-chief, with Gillespie becoming editor-in-chief of reason.tv. In 2011, Gillespie and Welch published '' The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America''. Katherine Mangu-Ward became the magazine's editor-in-chief in June 2016, with Welch moving to an editor-at-large position. Other ''Reason'' editors include
Jacob Sullum Jacob Z. Sullum (born September 5, 1965) is a syndicated newspaper columnist with Creators Syndicate and a senior editor at ''Reason'' magazine. He focuses most of his writings on shrinking the realm of politics and expanding individual choice. ...
,
Jesse Walker Jesse Walker (born September 4, 1970) is books editor of ''Reason'' magazine. The University of Michigan alumnus has written the books ''The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory'' (HarperCollins, 2013) and ''Rebels on the Air: An Alter ...
and Brian Doherty; contributors include
Ronald Bailey Ronald Bailey (born November 23, 1953) is an American libertarian science writer. He has written or edited several books on economics, ecology, and biotechnology. Personal life Bailey was born in San Antonio, Texas, and raised in Washington Co ...
,
Cathy Young Catherine Alicia Young (born Yekaterina Jung russian: Екатерина Юнг; born February 10, 1963) is a Russian-born American journalist. Young is primarily known for her writing about feminism and other cultural issues, as well as about R ...
, and cartoonist
Peter Bagge Peter Bagge (pronounced , as in ''bag''; born December 11, 1957) is an American cartoonist whose best-known work includes the comics ''Hate'' and '' Neat Stuff''. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduce ...
. In 2017, ''Reason'' magazine began hosting
The Volokh Conspiracy The Volokh Conspiracy ( ) is a blog co-founded in 2002 by law professor Eugene Volokh, covering legal and political issues from an ideological orientation it describes as "generally libertarian, conservative, centrist, or some mixture of these." ...
, a blog written by libertarian and conservative law professors and run by
Eugene Volokh Eugene Volokh (; born February 29, 1968 as Yevhen Volodymyrovych Volokh ( uk, Євге́н Володимирович Волох)) is an American legal scholar known for his scholarship in American constitutional law and libertarianism as well as ...
.


Hit & Run

Hit & Run is ''Reasons group
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
. It is maintained and written by the staff of the magazine. It was started in 2002. Then-editor Gillespie and then-Web editor
Tim Cavanaugh Tim Cavanaugh is a journalist and screenwriter based in Alexandria, Virginia. He is a news editor for ''The Washington Examiner''. Prior to that, he was News Editor for '' National Review Online'', Executive Editor for ''The Daily Caller'', Managi ...
, both veterans of Suck.com, modeled the blog in some ways after that website: they brought along several other Suck.com writers to contribute, fostered a style in the blog matching that former website's
sarcastic Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflection ...
attitude, and even the name "Hit & Run" was taken from what had been a weekly news roundup column on Suck.com. ''Reason'' editors referred to this co-opting of the former website as the "''Suck''-ification of ''Reason''". In 2005, Hit & Run was named as one of the best political blogs by ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...
''.


Reason TV

Reason TV is a website affiliated with ''Reason'' magazine that produces short-form documentaries and video editorials.
Nick Gillespie Nicholas John Gillespie (; born August 7, 1963) is an American libertarian journalist who was editor-in-chief of ''Reason'' magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined ...
is editor-in-chief. The site produced a series of videos called ''The Drew Carey Project'' hosted by comedian
Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, he gained stardom in his own sitcom, '' The Drew Carey Show'', an ...
. Reason.tv teamed with Carey again in 2009 to produce "Reason Saves Cleveland," in which Carey suggested free market solutions to his hometown's problems. Since 2010, comedian
Remy Munasifi Remy Munasifi (born June 16, 1980) is an American stand-up comedian,Sharmila Devi''The National''. October 30, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2011 parody musician, rapper and video artist, who became an Internet celebrity after his production of comed ...
has partnered with Reason TV to produce parody videos. Since 2017,
John Stossel John Frank Stossel (born March 6, 1947) is an American libertarian television presenter, author, consumer journalist, and pundit. He is known for his career as a host on ABC News, Fox Business Network, and Reason TV. Stossel's style combines r ...
has produced more than 100 commentary segments published on the ReasonTV YouTube channel.


See also

* ''
The Declaration of Independents ''The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America'' is a 2011 non-fiction book by American political writers Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie. Welch is the former editor-in-chief of ''Reason'', a position G ...
'' (book)


References


External links

* * * {{cite news , url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/14/BU235867.DTL , title= ''Wired'' founder helps ''Reason''
''Reason'' Feb. 1976: Special Revisionism Issue
Libertarian publications Magazines established in 1968 Classical liberalism Libertarianism in the United States Libertarian magazines published in the United States American political websites Monthly magazines published in the United States Magazines published in California