Friends and readers of Harper's magazine pledged $50,000 to prevent layoffs at the publication. Publisher John R. "Rick" MacArthur decided to go ahead with layoffs anyway:
This afternoon, your generous pledges of more than $50,000 were rejected by lawyers representing our publisher, John R. "Rick" MacArthur. Sadly, he will give no ground on the layoffs, which he intends to see happen before contract negotiations can proceed. Having offered–last week, and again today–numerous other ways to reduce costs and avoid cutting experienced staff, we are deeply disappointed in this outcome, but we are truly touched that so many of you (more than 800!) pledged so much in just a few short days.
Thank you, and long live Harper's Magazine!
The members of The Harper's Union
(Thanks, Noah!)
(Image: Old Books – Vintage Harper's Magazine Volumes, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from anitakhart's photostream)
