Why Publish a Magazine in 2026?This is Why We Do What We Do

“Congress shall make no law respecting … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

– First Amendment to the United States Constitution

In a world of short reels and rapid fire, beat-synced video slideshows, with fast cuts and motion graphics, a magazine (even an online version) may seem a little out of touch. Gradually, we as a society have become more accustomed to our information being easily packaged and filled with repeatable soundbites that are ready to be used to win every Internet argument. There’s seemingly no need for depth, because nobody is interested in going deep. We’re a mile wide and an inch deep, and we are happy with those measurements. Before you know it, everyone will move onto the next big story and what was interesting today will be forgotten tomorrow. So why bother?

Why magazines and other legacy media shouldn’t go away

The First Amendment protects individual American voices, but what value is that if individuals reach a point where they can no longer think critically. Increasingly, young people are encouraged to gather their information from thirty-second clips of information without considering the deeper implication of what they are seeing and hearing. There’s no time, because the next clip will load straight after the last, giving individuals no time to process the incoming information. It’s time to slow down. It’s time to read and reflect, to consider the information and formulate a response rooted in critical thinking. We don’t just need to learn what to think, but how to think.

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people." – John Adams

The Not-So-Great Debate

We all seen the polarization in America today. We all think we know who we want to blame for this. However, perhaps what we haven’t considered is that the root cause of this polarization is homophily. Homophily in simple terms is the idea that birds of a feather flock together. We are more likely to associate with, believe and support ideas that confirm what we already believe. In short, we like echo chambers. It makes perfect sense, really. They are comfortable and safe, but they aren’t always good for democracy.

Since 2010, we have shifted towards having social media in our pockets, and with that has come the proliferation of ideas. Over time, it has become exhausting, so we have slowly filtered out ideas that conflict with our own. It’s normal but, unfortunately, it’s not always what is best.

No Need to Argue

Nobody wants to argue with strangers (real or not) on the Internet. We have grocery lists to make, laundry to sort, meals to cook and children to educate. We also have a democracy to preserve, so, what better way to do that than to encourage long-form, well-considered answers to young people’s questions? Instead of looking at all the information in the world and being exhausted and overwhelmed, why not see it as a wealth of knowledge to sort through and categorize into good quality and bad quality information that we can muse over and discuss with our children. It’s time to reintroduce polite discourse, where we train ourselves to be okay with hearing disagreeable information, so we can teach our children to do the same and ask good-quality questions about what they are reading.

Future of Democracy

Young people have the ever-present temptation of AI to assist them with their writing, but giving in to that temptation could mean a greater loss than just that of losing the skill of writing. It could mean the loss of a future democracy. Young people need to be able to make their writing and thought processes defensible AND arguable. Ideas become stronger and more nuanced when they can withstand a counterargument. Disagreement  is not the enemy of thought. If an idea can experience rebuttal and come out the other side still intact then it is effectively a stronger argument. We want this magazine to be a safe place for young people to share their views and have their arguments sharpened. In the coming months we hope to start offering junior journalist workshops locally but in the meantime, we continue to invite you to encourage your students to submit their work and let us publish it.

Commentary by Joni Harrison