The Weekly Standard shutters after 23 years

Conservative magazine The Weekly Standard is closing after 23 years in business, and employees were told on Friday to pack up their things by the end of the day. The magazine will publish its final issue on December 17.

What are the details?

The publication, founded by Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes in 1995, has been deeply critical of President Donald Trump since before his election. While web traffic to the site has reportedly increased recently, the publication's influence on Republican policy has declined over the years.

According to CNN, leadership at the Standard had been courting buyers for months prior to the announced shutdown, wrangling with publisher MediaDC (owned by Clarity Media Group) who they asked to sell the magazine rather than shutter it. Ultimately, MediaDC said it wasn't interested in a sale, and reallocated its resources to a sister publication under its umbrella, The Washington Examiner.

MediaDC Chairman Ryan McKibben said in a news release, "For more that twenty years The Weekly Standard has provided a valued and important perspective on political, literary and cultural issues of the day. The magazine has been home to some of the industry's most dedicated and talented staff and I thank them for their hard work and contributions, not just to the publication, but the field of journalism."

Kristol acknowledged the Standard's shutdown on Twitter, expressing his pride in the publication and signaling that the movement behind its messaging would press forward.

All good things come to an end. And so, after 23 years, does The Weekly Standard. I want to express my gratitude to our readers and my admiration for my colleagues. We worked hard to put out a quality magazine, and we had a good time doing so. And we have much more to do. Onward!
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 14, 2018

Anything else?

Senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru of the rival conservative outlet, National Review, issued a heartfelt goodbye to his competitors on Friday, saying that The Standard's demise was likely attributed to a corporate decision rather than the magazine's criticism of the president. Ponnuru went on to extend his hopes that the now-unemployed writers of the magazine would "land on their feet."

CNN reported that employees of The Weekly Standard would be paid through the end of the year and receive a severance if they sign nondisclosure agreements. As of this writing, the email addresses of the terminated employees were in the process of being shut off.