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Seven Days (magazine)

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For the alternative newspaper in Vermont, see Seven Days (newspaper).
Seven Days
August 1978 edition of Seven Days magazine
FrequencyIrregular
PublisherInstitute for New Communications, Inc.
FounderDavid Dellinger, Dick Goldensohn, Gwenda Blair
Founded1975
First issueMarch 3, 1975
Final issueApril 1980
CountryU.S.
Based inNew York, New York
ISSN0162-1289

Seven Days was an American alternative news magazine that resembled Time and Newsweek in format, but was written from a leftist or anti-establishment perspective.[1][2] Founded by antiwar activist David Dellinger and others, it was published from 1975 to 1980 by the Institute for New Communications, Inc., a non-profit organization in Manhattan.[3][2] The magazine ran without advertising for its first year,[4] and relied heavily on private donors through its final issue.[5]

Background

The first preview edition of Seven Days magazine was published on March 3, 1975.[3]

In March 1976, the Los Angeles Times reported that Seven Days was starting publication as a monthly magazine, which would eventually be published weekly.[6] David Dellinger, a defendant in the Chicago Seven trial, was one of the founders of the new magazine.[7] Dellinger positioned Seven Days as a political alternative to Time and other traditional weekly news magazines,[6] which would nevertheless appeal to a wider audience.[4] The new magazine was viewed as the successor to the radical Ramparts magazine, which ceased publication in October 1975 due to infighting, and turned over its subscriber list to Dellinger after it folded.[8][6] Working Papers for a New Society noted that Dellinger, Gwenda Blair, and Dick Goldensohn, who had been involved in the original planning of Seven Days, had worked together on the staff of the pacifist Liberation magazine in the early 1970s.[1]

After publishing monthly "preview" issues to build its subscriber base, Seven Days moved to regular biweekly publication in 1977.[1][4] In January 1977, Dellinger told The New York Daily News that the magazine was running without advertising for the first year, to ensure editorial freedom.[4] According to Dellinger, Seven Days had startup funding from 100 donors who had contributed between $500 to $20,000 each.[4]

Format

Seven Days featured news stories incorporating more political opinion and commentary than in conventional news weeklies.[1] It also had recurring columns and cultural criticism.[1]

Editorial staff

As of January 1977, the magazine had 13 members of staff.[4] By 1978, members of the Seven Days editorial staff included Barbara Ehrenreich, Peter Biskind, Maris Cakars, Alfredo Lopez, Jill Nelson, Robert Ellsberg, and many others, in addition to Dellinger.[9]

Circulation

By early 1977, circulation of Seven Days had reached nearly 40,000, including many former subscribers to the defunct Ramparts,[1] which had 250,000 subscribers at its peak in the 1960s.[6]

Cover stories

Castro interview

The magazine's December 1977 issue was devoted almost entirely to printing the full transcript of Barbara Walter’s interview with Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The interview is known as one of Walter’s biggest scoops, but Dellinger, in an editor’s note, said “we are printing the complete text of this important interview because we think ABC’s version was biased and incomplete.”[10] The magazine, across 29 pages, highlighted in bold type the quotes used in the televised interview, in an effort to show how Castro’s comments as aired on American television lacked important context or left a misleading impression.

Khomeini interview

The magazine's cover story in the February 23, 1979 issue featured an exclusive interview with the Ayatollah Khomeini by Jim Cockroft,[11][12] which he conducted in December 1978.[11]

H-Bomb satire

In 1979, the United States federal government obtained a court order to prevent The Progressive magazine from publishing an article called "The H-Bomb Secret".[13][14] The editorial team at Seven Days decided to publish its own satirical article titled, "How to Make Your Own H-Bomb", to demonstrate solidarity with The Progressive and to dramatize their defense of free speech.[15][14] The tongue-in-cheek instructions advised readers to "Never make an A-bomb on an empty stomach" to avoid investing plutonium orally.[14] To enrich uranium hexafluoride, the article instructed: "Attach a six-foot rope to a bucket handle. Now swing the rope (and bucket) around your head as fast as possible. Keep this up for about 45 minutes. Slow down gradually, and very gently put the bucket on the floor. The U-235, which is lighter, will have risen to the top, where it can be skimmed off like cream."[13][14] According to the article, the aerated uranium should then be put into two stainless steel salad bowls and placed in a hollowed-out vacuum cleaner.[13][15] It was written by Barbara Ehrenreich, Peter Biskind, Jane Melnick, and scientist Michio Kaku.[13]

On April 2, 1979, the publishers of Seven Days sued the federal government, alleging that a U.S. assistant attorney had intimidated its printers into stopping publication of its "H-bomb issue", which had originally been scheduled to hit newsstands on March 31.[16] Attorneys for Seven Days, Martin Stolar and William Kunstler, asked Federal Judge Kevin Duffy to issue an order to stop government interference, but Duffy refused after American Press Service of Gordonsville, Virginia, agreed to publish the magazine after all.[15] The article was finally published as the cover story of the April 13, 1979 issue.[17] Excerpts from the Seven Days article were later published in The Washington Post.[13]

In 2009, lawyers for Binyam Mohamed said they believed their client was wrongfully detained at Guantanamo Bay prison for seven years, after having "confessed" to reading the article from Seven Days.[18][19][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Noteworthy". Working Papers for New Society. Vol. 5, no. 1. Spring 1977. pp. 3, 98. Retrieved September 19, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b Simmons, Jeff (April 22, 1985). "Richard Goldensohn, 39, reporter, magazine founder". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. A-11. Retrieved September 20, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b "From the Editors". Seven Days. March 3, 1975. p. 2. Retrieved September 20, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hamill, John (January 30, 1977). "Dellinger, Radical of '60s, Feels Home in Brooklyn". The New York Daily News. Retrieved September 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Letter from the staff". Seven Days. April 1980. p. 3. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d "Media Briefs". Los Angeles Times. March 14, 1976. p. X-3. Retrieved September 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ McReynolds, David (November 14, 1991). "Remembering Dave Dellinger". Against the Current – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "The State". Los Angeles Times. March 7, 1976. Retrieved September 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Seven Days Staff". Seven Days. Vol. 2, no. 12. August 1978. Retrieved September 19, 2022 – via Wikimedia Commons.
  10. ^ Dellinger, Dave (December 1, 1977). "Dear Readers". Seven Days. p. 3.
  11. ^ a b "A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Bahá'ís of Iran" (PDF). Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. December 2006. p. 20.
  12. ^ Witt, Robin (March 17, 1979). "Iran to Follow Islamic Rule". The Sacramento Bee. p. B7. Retrieved September 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ a b c d e "How To Make Your Own H-Bomb". The Washington Post. April 29, 1979. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d e Ehrenreich, Barbara (February 26, 2009). "My unwitting role in acts of torture". The Guardian. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  15. ^ a b c "H-bomb magazine in works". The Herald-News. Passaic, New Jersey. April 3, 1979. p. C-12. Retrieved September 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Magazine Sues US Over Delay". The Sacramento Bee. United Press International. April 3, 1979. Retrieved September 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Letter from the Staff: A funny thing happened on the way to the printer". Seven Days magazine. April 13, 1979. pp. 2–3. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  18. ^ Larabee, Ann (2015). The Wrong Hands: Popular Weapons Manuals and Their Historic Challenges to a Democratic Society. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190201197 – via Google Books.
  19. ^ Brooks, Rosa (February 26, 2009). "How Mom sent a guy to Gitmo". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
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