Journalists at the Texas Observer on Monday urged their nonprofit board to reconsider its decision to close the crusading liberal magazine, launching an emergency fundraising appeal to keep the 68-year-old publication open.
The editors asked that board members who voted to close the magazine resign, that a staff member be added to the board and that the board bring on “nationally known journalists with experience in assisting other journalism nonprofits in times of crisis.”GoFundMe page that had been set up hours earlier
The Observer, which since its founding in 1954 went from being a thorn in the side of conservative Democrats controlling the state to being a voice of defiance in a state now dominated by Republicans, has been beset by financial and personnel problems in recent years, although its staff has continued to produce important stories about women’s rights, border security, political extremism and other topics.
In a phone interview, Laura Hernandez Holmes, the board president and a veteran Democratic political fundraiser, said the decision to lay off the staff came after many months of painful reckoning. She is stepping down as president on Friday but will remain on the board. She held out hope that the publication could be “reimagined” under new leadership.
Hernandez Holmes said she saw the writing on the wall earlier this month “after multiple attempts to get a budget meeting from senior staff about how dire the financial situation was.” “That’s why the hiatus is so important so that we can fulfill current obligations, make the hard decisions about the layoffs and then think about what’s possible. I’m here making sure that we can fund some severance.”
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