Capital Reading

National Journal tells all

The unaccustomed reader is first put off by the loose-leaf holes along the spine of the magazine's austere brown cover; an invitation to scholars and librarians, he thinks. Vowing to persevere, he skips stories about the Rotterdam oil market and campaign-financing laws and tries one examining the computer industry's relations with the Labor Department. Uninvited daydreams about the Maryland shore intrude. He tries reading "Congress and the Dairy Industry." Muscles relax, the heartbeat slows. Then he turns to "Managing the National Grain Reserves." Zzzzzzzz.

No one ever said reading the National Journal was easy, and therein lies its appeal. Launched ten years ago by the Government Research Corp., a small capital consulting firm, the Journal was orginally intended as a tool for businessmen and lobbyists in dealing with Government. But the magazine has also proved indispensable to bureaucrats and legislators, and today that dense, no-fooling Washington weekly has 4,000 subscribers, each willing to pay $345 annually. "We're a sophisticated trade magazine for those involved in policymaking," says Publisher John Fox Sullivan, and the Journal is every bit as thorough--and sometimes as dull--as this mandate would suggest. Washington's shakers and movers, along with many of the shaken and the moved, read it scrupulously. The White House has 75 subscriptions, Congress more than 400, and the press corps countless more. Confesses Stuart Eizenstat, the President's domestic affairs adviser: "I read it to find out what's happening at the White House."

Each issue contains about ten stories--from exhaustive examinations of major public issues to sure-footed treks through the bureaucracy to thoughtful political analyses--ranging in length from 1,500 to 15,000 words. Although its purview includes all the works and pomps of Government, the Journal emphasizes the Executive Branch. By contrast, Congressional Quarterly, a crosstown rival of sorts, tends to look at Washington from the vantage point of Capitol Hill. The Journal has a relatively large staff of twelve full-time reporters and five contributing editors. With a generous two to three weeks to work on projects, they often beat their capital colleagues to important but not so obvious stories. Staff Correspondent Robert J. Samuelson's examination last year of the growing impact of the elderly on the federal budget, for instance, touched off a wave of similar articles in the general press and this year won a prestigious National Magazine Award.

Once as somber as the Federal Register, the Journal is now sprinkled with photographs and cartoons. This concession to the 20th century was engineered by Sullivan, former assistant publisher of Newsweek International, who was brought in four years ago by Anthony C. Stout, one of the Journal's founders and chairman of its parent company. Sullivan has loosened the magazine in other ways as well. An understated but chatty "People" section keeps readers posted on the doings of Government and media luminaries, and an "Update" column concisely covers developments along such news-fronts as national health insurance, coal-burning rules and tax cut alternatives. A regular feature called "At a Glance" capsulizes the status of 24 major bills, regulations, court cases and other issues. The magazine has even begun to crack a smile on occasion. Not long ago, for instance, Correspondent Richard Corrigan parodied Howard Cosell in an article about the congressional battle over President Carter's first energy plan.

Three years ago, the Journal began selling space to individuals and interest groups that want to put their money ($1,500 a page) where their mouths are. Former HEW Secretary Joseph A. Califano Jr. held forth for seven pages (paid for by Xerox Corp.) on the economics of aging, and Jimmy Carter was given two pages (on the house) to explain how the U.S. health-care system "rewards spending and penalizes efficiency."

This year the Journal expects to move into the black for the first time. "We've got more than an 85% renewal rate and our circulation is growing," boasts Editor Richard Frank. But the warm breeze of success should not be misconstrued as a prevailing wind for making the magazine, perish the thought, popular. Says Sullivan very firmly: "We are definitely not thinking that way." -

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