Maclean's - Canadian Newspapers

MacleanÌs is CanadaÌs only national weekly current affairs magazine. MacleanÌs enlightens, engages and entertains 2.8 million readers with strong investigative reporting and exclusive stories from leading journalists in the fields of international affairs, social issues, national politics, business and culture. Read about our History

Maclean's owes its origins to Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean. In 1905, the 43-year-old trade magazine publisher purchased an advertising agency's in-house business journal -- along with its 5,000-strong subscription base. The Business Magazine, launched in October of that year, was a pocket-sized digest of articles gathered from Canadian, U.S. and British periodicals. It sold 6,000 copies. Inside its bright blue cover, the fledgling monthly anointed itself, "the Cream of the World's magazines reproduced for Busy People." Its aim, Maclean wrote a year later, was not "merely to entertain but also to inspire its readers."

The magazine went through many incarnations over the next century. Within a few years, Maclean changed the name to Busy Man's Magazine and began commissioning articles before settling on Maclean's in 1911. The magazine started to include coverage of politics and arts, and opened its pages to works of fiction. Following the First World War, as the economy recovered, Maclean's was published bi-monthly and kept up hard-hitting articles inspired by wartime reporting. The future was bright until the Depression hit and revenues dipped; the magazine devoted its pages to first-hand accounts of people's struggles to survive.

The 1957 federal election led to one of the magazine's most embarrassing moments: an editorial proclaiming a Liberal win printed before the results were tabulated. It hit newsstands the day after voters handed John Diefenbaker's Conservative party a resounding mandate. The next issue of Maclean's featured the retraction "We were Dead Wrong on Your Vote," calling the gaffe an "unexampled case of editorial fatheadedness."

The '60s were a time of turmoil both in the nation and the magazine masthead. There were numerous changes in editorship during the decade, slowing in 1971 with the appointment of Peter C. Newman to the top post. Maclean's began losing money by the mid-60s -- the first time since the Depression -- and reverted to a monthly schedule. But that was soon to change. In 1975, Newman increased the frequence to bi-weekly and then again in 1978, issuing Canada's first newsweekly.

In 2001, Anthony Wilson-Smith was named 15th editor of Maclean's. In an age of instantaneous news delivery, his vision involves a shift away from simply reporting hard news toward including more analytical features and fresh voices.

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