Two campus liberal publications — The Progressive Review and The Idealistic Nation — have merged to create The Princeton Progressive Nation, a new magazine that debuts today. The move completes the process to create "one big liberal media conglomerate" on campus, according to Asheesh Siddique '07, coeditor of the new publication.
Siddique, formerly the editor of The Progressive Review, said talks to merge the two publications began last year after the editors of the respective publications realized that the two publications' general tone was "overlapping."
"Instead of competing for money and writers, it made sense to merge into one paper," he said.
Over the summer, Siddique and Robert Braun '07, the managing editor of the Idealistic Nation, finalized the details for the new progressive publication. Braun is also a member of The Daily Princetonian editorial board.
The paper — which is being funded in part by Campus Progress, a project of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress — will have a more local focus and address issues that affect students in their immediate communities, Braun said. These communities include Princeton's campus, the town of Princeton and the greater New Jersey area.
The first issue of The Princeton Progressive Nation will address local issues, including the heated campus dispute over the candidacy of Professor Rashid Khalidi as the Robert Niehaus '78 chair in contemporary Middle East studies.
Siddique hopes that students will read the publication to find out what progressive students at Princeton are thinking.
"If you want to read what liberals are thinking in general, read 'The Nation,' " Siddique said. "This paper handles national issues in a Princeton context."
The magazine will also emphasize reported news instead of political opinion, Siddique said.
Ira Leeds '06, publisher of The Princeton Tory, said that the merger might be beneficial for the two publications.
"Both organizations seemed to have encountered an unusually high number of obstacles since I've been on campus," Leeds said. "Perhaps merging the organizations will provide the new group with enough resources to overcome some of these problems."
The Princeton Progressive Nation will be published in print and on the Internet. The online publication will continue in the tradition of The Progressive Review's blog system, Siddique said.
The paper also hopes to involve progressive alumni and give these individuals a voice and role in the publication, Braun said. "The plan is not finalized yet, but by the next issue we will unveil our plan," he said.
The next issue of The Princeton Progressive Nation is due out in mid-October.
The first Princeton Progressive Nation will look similar in print to The Idealistic Nation of previous years.
But both Siddique and Braun said they hope to eventually transform the newspaper into a more professional magazine format.
"Our goal is to sell ads, receive grants from organizations and become a self-sufficient publication," Braun said.
In the past, the Idealistic Nation has been funded by the USG Projects Board.
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