City Journal

Cover of the 25th anniversary issue released in Autumn 2015.
Editor	Brian C. Anderson
Categories	Urban policy, political science, culture
Frequency	Quarterly
Publisher	Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
Founded	1990; 34 years ago (1990)
First issue	Autumn 1990[1]
Country	United States
Based in	New York City, New York
Website	www.city-journal.org
ISSN	1060-8540
OCLC	25172204

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City Journal is a public policy magazine and website, published by the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research think tank, that covers a range of topics on urban affairs, such as policing, education, housing, and other issues.^[2]: 349 The magazine also publishes articles on arts and culture, urban architecture, family culture, and other topics.^[3][4] The magazine began publishing in 1990.^[1][5]

City Journal was founded in 1990 by Richard Vigilante, editorial director of the Manhattan Institute, who also served as the magazine's first editor. Vigilante originally sought to launch the magazine as a for profit venture but eventually persuaded William M. H. Hammett, head of the conservative Manhattan Institute.^[2]: 349 to adopt the project. Vigilante positioned City Journal as a more moderate and more cosmopolitan alternative to established right-wing institutions.^[2]: 349 The magazine initially published articles promoting privatization, fiscal discipline, government downsizing, and educational vouchers.^[2]: 349 Other New York-related topics covered in the magazine included criticisms of open admissions at CUNY, and the promotion of broken-windows policing.^{[2]: 349–350}

During the early 2020s, City Journal has attracted widespread national attention for its role in elevating debates on critical race theory, LGBTQ+ topics in education, and similar issues in the United States.^[6][7][8] Contributor Christopher Rufo, in particular, has drawn attention for writing numerous pieces in the magazine that often focus on these matters. In articles published by City Journal, Rufo has accused Seattle's Office of Civil Rights of "endorsing principles of segregationism, group-based guilt, and race essentialism";^[6] highlighted Disney and Twitter workers who have been convicted of child sexual abuse;^[7] suggested that there were significant levels of 'grooming' in public schools" while omitting that the study he cited concluded that the "vast majority" of American schools are safe;^[7] accused a California curriculum designer of wanting to make children "chant to the gods Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, and Xipe Totek"^[8] —the State of California later paid $100,000 in legal fees and agreed to delete the Aztec god chants;^[9][10] and compared the diversity training conducted by the city of Seattle to "cult programming".^[8]

The magazine is published by the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research^[1][11] a national free-market think tank based in New York City. It was edited by Richard Vigilante and then Fred Siegel in the early 1990s. Myron Magnet, its editor from 1994 to 2006, is now editor-at-large. City Journal's current editor is Brian C. Anderson, who was appointed in late 2006 after serving as senior editor for 10 years.^[11] The journal's contributors include experts such as Senior Fellow Heather Mac Donald, Edward Glaeser, Steven Malanga, Nicole Gelinas, Kay Hymowitz, John Tierney, and Joel Kotkin. Although City Journal is based in New York City, its scope is national and often international, through the contributions of writers including Theodore Dalrymple from Britain, Claire Berlinski and Guy Sorman from France, and Bruce Bawer in Norway.

Much of the reception of City Journal over the years has been divided along political lines.

Conservative commentator Jay Nordlinger, writing in National Review, called City Journal "a beacon of civilization".^[5] In 2016, City Journal ranked second in The Global Grid's "Top 20 Urban Planning Websites",^[12] and again made the list in 2017, ranked fourth.^[13]

Alice O'Connor, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has written that City Journal is "hardly a model of ideological moderation", and that its contributors are "enmeshed in 1960s- and 1970s-era urbanology".^[2]: 349 She has criticized multiple writers for City Journal for reviving a "relentlessly negative image of black cultural pathology to call for tougher measures to crack down on out-of-wedlock births", following articles praising Daniel P. Moynihan's The Negro Family: The Case For National Action.^[2]: 349 Conservative author Sol Stern, a major contributor for the magazine since its inception,^[2]: 349 published a piece in liberal journal Democracy in 2020, accusing City Journal of removing contributors' editorial independence, and criticized the association of magazine trustee Rebekah Mercer with the alt-right outlet Breitbart.^[14]

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