by Chris Cumo

An essay in the The Chronicle of Higher Education can draw responses from readers throughout the U.S., Canada, France and Italy. Forget the nation-state and guys like Locke and Hobbes who wrote learned treatises about it. The Chronicle has no use for anything as parochial and antiquated as a country, but instead is an empire with a global reach. Any periodical this influential doesn't just cover news: it is news. So it was with the departure of Managing Editor Doug Lederman and Editor Scott Jaschik at the end of May 2003. The move sparked recriminations and rumors, and numerous media pundits made mention of the shake-up. The editorial shake-up was preceded by a loss of subscribers and falling ad revenues.

Editor-in-chief Phil Semas joined The Chronicle as a reporter at the height of student unrest during the 60s. He retains a journalist's fidelity to facts, and does not shrink from admitting that The Chronicle has lost subscribers and revenue over the past four years. Between 1998 and 2003, the number of subscribers dropped from 95,000 to 87,246, according to information from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Of these subscribers, in 2001 roughly 41,940 were college and university faculty. In 2002, the number of faculty subscribers slid 25 percent to 31,045. In 2003, the number of faculty readers rose to 34,898, according to The Chronicle's media kits and editor-in-chief Phil Semas.

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