GetWiki

{{Short description|Canadian magazine, founded 2003}}{{other uses|Walrus (disambiguation)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}{{Use Canadian English|date=November 2023}}

factoids

The Walrus> date=25 November 2019 }}| frequency = 8 issues per year| language = English| category = Canadian and international affairs date=31 March 2016 }}| firstdate = September 2003| country = Canada| based = Toronto| website = {{Official URL}}| issn = 1708-4032| oclc = 680091331}}The Walrus is an independent, non-profit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an eight-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a national speaker series called The Walrus Talks, and branded content for clients through The Walrus Lab.

History

Creation

In 2002, David Berlin, a former editor and owner of the Literary Review of Canada, began promoting his vision of a world-class Canadian magazine. This led him to meet with then-Harper’s editor Lewis H. Lapham to discuss creating a ”Harper’s North”, which would combine the American magazine with 40 pages of Canadian content.{{Citation |last=Brown |first=Liz |title=The Walrus Loses Its Carpenter |url=http://www.rrj.ca/m3826/ |newspaper=Ryerson Review of Journalism |year=2004 |access-date=April 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327070436www.rrj.ca/m3826/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=Mar 27, 2012}} As Berlin searched for funding to create that content, a mutual friend put him in touch with Ken Alexander, a former high school English and history teacher and then senior producer of CBC Newsworld’s CounterSpin. Like Berlin, Alexander was hoping to found an intelligent Canadian magazine that dealt with world affairs.Before long, the Chawkers Foundation, run by Alexander’s family, had agreed to provide the prospective magazine with $5 million over five years, and the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation promised $150,000 for an internship program. This provided enough money to get by without the partnership with Harper’s.Shortly after Berlin and Alexander hired creative director Antonio de Luca and art director Jason Logan to envision the launch of The Walrus.The magazine launched in September 2003, as an attempt to create a Canadian equivalent to American magazines such as Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, or The New Yorker. Since then, it has become Canada’s leading general interest magazine. Its mandate is:to be a national general interest magazine about Canada and its place in the world. We are committed to publishing the best work by the best writers from Canada and elsewhere on a wide range of topics for readers who are curious about the world.“About The Walrus”

Name

The “walrus” name was at first a working title, but quickly grew on the staff of the magazine.{{Citation

Magazine

Berlin resigned as editor in 2004, and Ken Alexander ended his tumultuous reign as publisher, then editor, in June 2008.{{Citation The Walrus soon began to receive critical acclaim: its two 2003 issues alone garnered eleven National Magazine Award nominations and three wins,WEB,www.magazine-awards.com/index.cfm?ci_id=1397&la_id=1, “Past Awards”, 21 April 2011, 7 February 2012,www.magazine-awards.com/index.cfm?ci_id=1397&la_id=1," title="web.archive.org/web/20120207110827www.magazine-awards.com/index.cfm?ci_id=1397&la_id=1,">web.archive.org/web/20120207110827www.magazine-awards.com/index.cfm?ci_id=1397&la_id=1, dead, and the Utne Reader awarded it the prize for best new publication in 2004.{{Citation In January 2012, High Fidelity HDTV and The Walrus announced plans to air fourteen “original high-definition documentaries” derived from content from The Walrus that had been produced since April 2011.NEWS,www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/television/walrus-magazine-branches-out-into-television/article2296327/, Walrus magazine branches out into television, Adams, James, The Globe and Mail, 10 January 2012, 2012-01-10, The two companies plan on creating more documentaries in the future.On 13 September 2012, the Walrus unveiled its redesigned website. It is based on the Wordpress platform and was developed over the course of five months.NEWS,www.mastheadonline.com/news/the_walrus_magazine_redesigns_website_on_wordpress_platform/, The Walrus magazine redesigns website on Wordpress platform, Hayward, Jeff, Masthead Online, 13 September 2012, 2012-09-13,

Unpaid internship programme

In March 2014, The Walrus was required to shut down its unpaid internship programme after the Ontario Ministry of Labour declared that its longstanding practice of not paying interns was in contravention of the Employment Standards Act.“Ontario labour ministry cracks down on unpaid internships at Toronto Life, The Walrus”, The Canadian Journalism Project, 27 March 2014 The magazine issued a statement justifying its practice of using unpaid labour, saying:We have been training future leaders in media and development for ten years, and we are extremely sorry we are no longer able to provide these opportunities, which have assisted many young Ontarians—and Canadians—in bridging the gap from university to paid work and in, many cases, on to stellar careers.“Unpaid Internship Crackdown At Toronto Life, The Walrus Magazines”, Huffington Post Canada, 27 March 2014Since 2014, The Walrus has offered paid editorial fellowships that run six months. In 2020, The Walrus fellowships grew to one year placements.WEB, Careers & Fellowships,thewalrus.ca/about/careers/, The Walrus,web.archive.org/web/20201007165831/https://thewalrus.ca/about/careers/, 2020-08-10, 7 October 2020,

December 2014–present

On 1 December 2014, Jonathan Kay replaced John Macfarlane as Editor-in-Chief.PRESS RELEASE, New Editor-in-Chief, The Walrus Foundation, 2014-10-29,thewalrus.ca/new-editor-in-chief/, 2015-09-29, dead,web.archive.org/web/20160808094628/https://thewalrus.ca/new-editor-in-chief/, 2016-08-08, In October 2015, a report in Canadaland provided details of a toxic and disorganized environment at the magazine.NEWS, Meltdown at the Walrus, Jane, Lytvynenko, 2015-11-04, Canadaland,canadalandshow.com/article/meltdown-walrus, 2016-01-21,web.archive.org/web/20231005232925/https://www.canadaland.com/meltdown-walrus/, 2023-10-05, live, Kay resigned as Editor-in-Chief on 14 May 2017, following a controversy around cultural appropriation in which he dismissed Indigenous concerns about the practice.NEWS, Jonathan Kay out at The Walrus, Jonathan, Goldsbie, 2017-05-14, Canadaland,www.canadaland.com/jonathan-kay-resigns-walrus/, 2017-05-14,web.archive.org/web/20231001141800/https://www.canadaland.com/jonathan-kay-resigns-walrus/, 2023-10-01, live, NEWS, Jonathan Kay resigns as editor of The Walrus amid ‘appropriation prize’ backlash, Rachel, Mendleson, 2017-05-14, Toronto Star,www.thestar.com/news/gta/jonathan-kay-resigns-as-editor-of-the-walrus-amid-appropriation-prize-backlash/article_27a5553e-a58d-5641-8f8c-24f4acf8aba0.html, 2017-10-28,web.archive.org/web/20231001143044/https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/jonathan-kay-resigns-as-editor-of-the-walrus-amid-appropriation-prize-backlash/article_27a5553e-a58d-5641-8f8c-24f4acf8aba0.html, 2023-10-01, live, Jessica Johnson was named executive editor, in addition to her existing role as creative director, on 7 September 2017.PRESS RELEASE, Jessica Johnson Named Executive Editor of The Walrus, 2020-04-05, 2017-09-07, The Walrus Foundation,thewalrus.ca/jessica-johnson-named-executive-editor-of-the-walrus/, 2023-11-05,web.archive.org/web/20200803101124/https://thewalrus.ca/jessica-johnson-named-executive-editor-of-the-walrus/, 2020-08-03, live, Johnson resigned on 2 February 2023, saying “five years is a long time in the life of a magazine editor, and I’ve had a really good run.“NEWS, Walrus editor in chief Johnson departs, Mariam, Ahmed, 2023-02-02, Talking Biz News,talkingbiznews.com/media-moves/walrus-editor-in-chief-johnson-departs/, 2023-11-05,web.archive.org/web/20230204060147/https://talkingbiznews.com/media-moves/walrus-editor-in-chief-johnson-departs/, 2023-02-04, live, Carmine Starnino, Editor-at-large at The WalrusWEB, About Our Staff - Editorial {{!, Carmine Starnino Editor-at-large |date=2023-01-24 |url=https://thewalrus.ca/about/our-staff/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124131952thewalrus.ca/about/our-staff/ |archive-date=2023-01-24}} and a founding editor in 2002 of Maisonneuve magazine, had stepped up as Interim Editor-in-Chief by no later than 21 February.WEB, About Our Staff - Editorial {{!, Carmine Starnino Interim Editor-in Chief |date=2023-02-21 |url=https://thewalrus.ca/about/our-staff/ |access-date=2023-02-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221032006thewalrus.ca/about/our-staff/ |archive-date=2023-02-21}}

Finances

Though The Walrus was initially pledged $1 million annually by the Chawkers Foundation for its first five years, it was unable to access this money without first being recognized as a charitable organization by the Canada Revenue Agency. The Alexander family was forced to support the magazine out of its own pocket until it finally received charitable status in 2005, creating the charitable non-profit Walrus Foundation.{{Citation In the relatively small yet geographically large Canadian market, magazines producing long-form journalism have often struggled to stay afloat. Saturday Night, which The Walrus editor John Macfarlane formerly published, lost money continuously despite being a celebrated publication.{{Citation

References

{{reflist}}

External links

• {{Official website}}