Common Good Magazine Wants To Pick Up Where George Left Off
- by Paul Gough , July 29, 2002
Common Good magazine is ramping up for a mid-October launch, with plans for two issues in 2002 and monthly publication in 2003. It’s been started by Helen O’Donnell, whose father was an aide to both President John F. Kennedy and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. She wrote a 1998 book, “A Common Good: The Friendship of Robert F. Kennedy and Kenneth P. O’Donnell” and is working on another for publication in 2003.
O’Donnell, whose background is in politics, said she became interested in starting a magazine after discussions with friends and family members following George’s demise in 1999. She said she resisted because she didn’t have the background. But then, following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, she took another look.
Common Good will be a non-affiliated political magazine with a secondary focus on entertainment with offices in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. It will have a strong, in-depth cover story and a lot of smaller pieces that explore politics and entertainment. There will be a monthly interview with a celebrity on politics or another serious topic plus coverage of international issues. And, like Life or Look magazines, there’ll be an emphasis on compelling photographs.
Staff will include Jim Bellows and Warren Rogers and former Boston magazine executive editor Craig Unger. Writers will include Jimmy Breslin and Gloria Steinem.
Unlike a lot of political magazines, Common Good isn’t trying to appeal to the policy wonks. The target audience is the average person who wants to read about politics and entertainment.
“As my dad said, ‘The guy that gets you elected,’” O’Donnell said.
The magazine will start with a rate base of 450,000-500,000 with plans to go higher with success. Sales will be based on subscription and newsstand, and O’Donnell hopes to have Common Good placed alongside People and other magazines at the supermarket and department store checkout counters. The cover price will be around $2.99, in an effort to stay competitive with People and other magazines.
O’Donnell said she looked at George and Talk magazines to find out where they went awry “so we don’t make the same mistakes.” But Common Good will chart a different course.
It isn’t George,” O’Donnell said of Common Good. “It’s a different magazine.”
And, before it’s launched, Common Good might have a different name too. To avoid confusion with Common Cents, a publication by a Washington, D.C. nonprofit, organizers are considering another name before launch. Nothing’s set yet, O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell is talking to media companies with an eye toward the future of the magazine. Although she serves as editor-in-chief, she doesn’t plan to continue in the magazine business, hoping that a media company will soon purchase the magazine and expand it in 2003.
