NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, isn\u2019t modest in his goals. \u201cWe want The Atlantic to be the greatest writer\u2019s collective on the planet,\u201d he said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
To that end, he\u2019s added nearly 50 new journalists to his staff this year, financed in part by circulation growth that accelerated after a scoop that fell in his lap in March, when Goldberg was accidentally added to a text chain<\/a> of Trump administration officials talking about an impending military attack.<\/p>\n A publication that began in 1857 is defying the trends of a troubled media industry. The Atlantic is returning to publishing monthly two decades after dropping to 10 issues a year and experimenting with a magazine-newspaper hybrid online fueled by its competitive stable of writers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so few news organizations … that are profitable, that are growing, that are doing great journalism, that have scoops and long-form and podcasts and live events,\u201d said Ashley Parker<\/a>, one of the new hires. \u201cTo be at one of the places that\u2019s doing all of that is just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n A presidential subscriber at the very beginning<\/p>\n The Atlantic\u2019s November issue is a 148-page examination of the \u201cunfinished revolution,\u201d timed to coincide with Ken Burns\u2019 PBS documentary on the American Revolution. The Atlantic\u2019s origins may not trace that far back, but it was started prior to the Civil War by opponents of slavery. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were among the renowned writers to sign its mission statement. Abraham Lincoln subscribed.<\/p>\n The Atlantic now has 1.4 million subscribers, a little more than half of them digital only. That\u2019s up from about 400,000 print subscribers in the late 2010s, when the website was not behind a pay wall.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole industry has been through two decades of \u2018how do we survive, what do we do, how do we figure this out?\u2019\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cThe answer is always there \u2014 it\u2019s make high-quality journalism and show the readers of that journalism why it\u2019s worth paying for it. Knock on wood, it\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n If it were that easy, he\u2019d have a lot more company. It helps to have a dedicated ownership group, the Emerson collective, led by billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Atlantic\u2019s circulation grew by 14% in both 2023 and 2024, the magazine said. By the middle of 2025, readership was up 20% over the previous year, and The Atlantic set records of single-day and one-week circulation gains the week after posting Goldberg\u2019s piece<\/a> about finding himself on a Signal group chat with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve told that directly to Donald Trump,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cYou in some ways are like our marketing director. Every time you attack me or The Atlantic, people subscribe.\u201d<\/p>\n Two Pulitzers for their first articles in The Atlantic<\/p>\n The Atlantic\u2019s writing staff includes Jennifer Senior<\/a> and Caitlin Dickerson<\/a>, who each won Pulitzer Prizes for their first magazine features \u2014 Senior on how the family of 26-year-old Bobby McIlvaine dealt with his death<\/a> on Sept. 11, 2001, Dickerson on the first Trump administration\u2019s policy separating migrant children<\/a> from their families.<\/p>\n Anne Applebaum<\/a>, herself a Pulitzer-winning author, covers national security with Vivian Salama<\/a> and Nancy Youssef<\/a>. Mark Leibovich<\/a>, Tim Alberta<\/a>, Jonathan Chait<\/a> and Jonathan Lemire<\/a> write on politics. Vann R. Newkirk II<\/a> wrote a vivid look-back<\/a> recently on Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier\u2019s memorable third fight.<\/p>\n The Atlantic has also taken advantage of turmoil at the Washington Post<\/a> to poach about 20 of its journalists, including legendary sportswriter Sally Jenkins<\/a>, humorist Alexandra Petri<\/a> and political writers Michael Scherer<\/a>, Isaac Stanley-Becker<\/a> and Parker.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not happy about the travails of The Washington Post \u2014 I started at The Washington Post \u2014 but I am happy to bring in excellent colleagues,\u201d Goldberg said.<\/p>\n Parker described The Atlantic as a dream job, and said she appreciates the chance to do magazine-style writing with more of a voice. \u201cFor every one of my colleagues at The Atlantic who also came from the Post, none of it felt like fleeing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt all felt like it was going someplace that was affirmatively exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Parker has collaborated with Scherer on a cover piece<\/a> about President Donald Trump\u2019s return to power, and wrote a personal essay<\/a> about a miscarriage. She\u2019s also written about the Trump family\u2019s closeness with assassinated activist Charlie Kirk, cabinet members\u2019 obsession about how they look on TV and Trump\u2019s takeover of the Kennedy arts center.<\/p>\n Those last three illustrate the hybrid The Atlantic is seeking online \u2014 stories that make or enlighten people about news. \u201cWe\u2019re not a newspaper,\u201d Goldberg said, \u201cbut we\u2019re trying to be part of the conversation every single day of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n The effort to bring magazine-style analysis and new ways of looking at breaking stories is still a work in progress, Parker notes. Among the most-read stories on the site Thursday were Helen Lewis\u2019 piece on a Saudi Arabian comedy festival<\/a>, a story by Idrees Kahloon on lower education standards<\/a> and David Brooks\u2019 essay on the need for a mass movement<\/a> against autocracy.<\/p>\n Reimagining the definition of a magazine for a modern era<\/p>\n While some online stories are \u201chot takes\u201d that don\u2019t necessarily work, Goldberg deserves credit for reimagining the definition of a magazine at a time of rapid change, said Jeff Jarvis, author of \u201cMagazine,\u201d a book about the genre\u2019s history and downfall in the Internet age.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s a bit of a savior of the genre and of the community of magazine writers,\u201d he said. Jarvis also credits Justin Smith<\/a>, a former Atlantic executive and currently co-founder of Semafor, for creating a series of new products that put The Atlantic on a more solid financial footing before Goldberg\u2019s takeover as editor-in-chief in 2016.<\/p>\n Goldberg\u2019s idea of the \u201cperfect\u201d Atlantic story is beautiful writing, energized by deep reporting with a clear argument and the writer\u2019s voice audible. He wants to entertain and educate, and loves it when a reader becomes absorbed in a story about a topic they might not otherwise have sought out.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is orchestral, if you will,\u201d he said. \u201cThe goal is to have enough different sorts of stories on the site and in print so that there is something for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n So does he believe he\u2019s reached his goal of gathering the world\u2019s best collection of writers?<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I think that,\u201d he said. \u201cI could always add more, but pound for pound this is the best journalism staff in the world. We\u2019re not the biggest. I couldn\u2019t imagine being the biggest. But the goal is to be the best.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http:\/\/x.com\/dbauder<\/a> and https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dbauder.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n