Ken Alexander resigns as editor of The Walrus

[THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED]It was announced today that one of the founders of The Walrus, its editor for most of its almost five years of existence and the controller of a major source of its funding, Ken Alexander, has resigned, effective with the September issue (which is put to bed by July 4).

Sources familiar with the magazine say that Alexander submitted his resignation to the board of the Walrus Foundation last week, some time before the National Magazine Awards gala, and it was accepted. The board, which is chaired by pollster Allan Gregg, had instructed publisher Shelley Ambrose to make sweeping cuts in the magazine's budget ($1 million is mentioned) and that Alexander was not willing to comply. (Similar intervention by the board has been tried before but came to nothing.)

[UPDATE]: In an interview with Masthead (which seems to be conducting reality checks on this blog), Alexander denied budget cuts had anything to do with his resignation: "" I’m only the editor—I’m an employee. So what budget we have is not part of my purview. I don’t set budgets." And publisher Ambrose denied that the board had instructed her to make drastic budget cuts: "“The board has made no demands… We are budgeting constantly. This year we have a 12.5% increase in paper, a 20% increase in rent and a 10% increase in shipping because of oil and gas prices. All of those things mean I have to budget constantly. We’re constantly finding ways to do it as cheaply as we can, maintain the quality [of the magazine] and raise more money.”

Open to question now is what will happen to funding from the Chawkers Foundation, Alexander's family trust that had guaranteed $1 million a year to bridge the difference between what the magazine could earn from circulation and advertising and what it cost to publish. That guaranteed $5 million over five years is coming to an end as of November and the magazine is awaiting word on the fate of a $400,000 installment that was expected, but not yet received. Ken Alexander is the main point of contact between Chawkers and the Walrus Foundation.

The magazine has been involved in serious, cross-country fundraising events (*see item below) ever since Shelley Ambrose, executive director of the non-profit Walrus Foundation and publisher of the magazine came aboard. It's not known what the net results are of that fundraising, but it is certain that it comes nowhere near providing enough to replace the Chawkers money.

Alexander was becoming more and more of a liability with his erratic behaviour, his abuse of staff, his reputation for heavy drinking and the inability to keep highly qualified people in his orbit. (Certainly there were people who were surprised at the wickedly cutting joke that host Adam Sterbergh made at the National Magazine Awards gala last Friday about Alexander's drinking and weird ways with staff.)

Alexander has ruled single-handedly and erratically at the magazine almost from the first. Quite recently, the former managing editor Jeremy Keehn, who had stepped down in March to become senior editor, threatened to resign after a typical run-in with Alexander. Previously, both senior editors, Marni Jackson and Nora Underwood had taken leaves, ostensibly to work on book projects.

• Co-founding editor David Berlin left after the first four issues, it was said because of health problems, but had progressively disagreed with Alexander about the magazine's direction .
  
• The next editor Paul Wilson, lasted only two issues and left after fundamental disagreements with Alexander.
  
• Alexander then stepped in as editor, relinquishing his role as publisher; but there was no question who got to make the final decisions. The magazine has had more ruction and turnover in its ranks than most publications of its size.
• The first publisher and chair of the Walrus Foundation, Bernard Schiff, and many of the board members, resigned September 2006. This was shortly after deputy editor Tom Fennell quit.
• A key funder, the Metcalfe Foundation, pulled its support, effectively ending what had been one of the highest-paying internship programs in Canadian magazines.
• There have been frequent and growing complaints from freelancers about the magazine's contract and that it was glacially slow or late in paying; a far cry from its early clarion call that it would pay at the top of the market and treat writers with respect.
  

If you're interested in the background (or have forgotten it), we would recommend an excellent investigative story done for the Ryerson Review of Journalism by Lauren McKeon and published in the summer of 2007.

Meanwhile, the board of the Walrus Foundation has struck a search committee to seek a new editor.

In a statement that probably can cut both ways, Ambrose said in the press release: "The mandate of the Walrus Foundation is to extend public discourse on matters vital to Canadians. As editor, Ken succeeded in doing exactly that — and more. He will be an extremely hard act to follow."
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*[UPDATE] One way for people to help The Walrus is to support the Walrus Foundation, says Shelley Ambrose, the publisher. And one of the ways of doing that is to support the "Dark City" fundraiser, (part of the Luminato festival) sponsored by The Walrus at the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre on Thursday (June 12). 7 p.m. reception, 8 p.m. curtain. The show is hosted by Nicholas Campbell, with music by Molly Johnson and readings ("noir sketches") by Austin Clarke, Heather O'Neill and Greg Hollingshead. Tickets, available through Ticketmaster (discount code WALSUB) or at the door and are $150 for non-subscribers, $125 for subscribers. further information can be found at walrusmagazine.com/luminato.