bout de papier, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1996) — Fall 1996 // Automne 1996, p. 2
“The mark of a successful life is what we protect and support…” (anon)
bout de papier is a strange animal. It has won a roomful of international awards over the years, but its editors have always run the magazine on a volunteer basis with the invaluable support and advice of a largely volunteer managing editor and two separate (also unpaid) editorial boards. Some of its articles are solicited as a result of brainstorming sessions by the editorial boards, but most articles are unsolicited (but extremely welcome). bout pays no fees.
Approximately half of our production costs are borne by PAFSO (each of whose members receive a free copy) and the other half are raised through paid subscriptions from non-FSs and advertising. Year by year, the proportion of costs borne by PAFSO has shrunk, although overall costs have risen.
In late 1996 times are tough, financially speaking, in the Foreign Service. Some of our readers wonder whether bout is a strict necessity. Certainly, other unions get by without such a product.
It is precisely because times are hard for the Foreign Service that bout must continue. As a unique, high-quality and award-winning product it seeks to project beyond the Pearson Building an image of an active, relevant and dynamic Foreign Service at a time when it is more critical than ever that our role be understood by Other Government Departments and by the Canadian public at large. As a professional association, PAFSO is tiny and its voice necessarily small — bout can speak eloquently for us, both to Government and to the public.
• That’s all very well, some will say, but in these days of cost recovery, bout must stand on its own two feet and pay its own way. The fact is, the potential revenue from advertising is finite, and we already do close to all the editorial work of which untrained volunteers are capable. There is some room for cost-paring and income-creation here and there without sacrificing the quality for which bout has become famous, and bout’s editorial team, working closely with our design consultants, will do all it can to save the dollars of the PAFSO membership. But, in the end, bout can never become a self-sustaining Maclean’s or Chatelaine. In discussing bout’s future we should of course be looking not just at how much it costs but at the wishes of its readership.
Again, bout’s boards are at your service. At present, bout is — like the UN — very much a product of our membership, i.e. what we publish is in very large part a function of what we receive. Like the UN, we don’t please everybody. Some of our readers would like to see more “heavyweight” pieces on Foreign Policy — but does Aunt Tilly, who received a bout subscription for Christmas, just want to read about the CTBT or the achievements of NAFTA? Others would like us, in the fashion of Esprit de Corps, to expose dirty goings-on at DFAIT and CIC, but how many friends is this going to win for the Foreign Service? (And anyway, who’s going to put their name to such exposés?). bout welcomes commentary and constructive criticism on what it should be trying to do. Write to us, e-mail a board member or (better still) volunteer to serve on the board yourself, and have a direct influence on the shape of your magazine.
A special welcome, in closing, to the Class of 96. You haven’t been posted yet, you just can’t believe your pay cheque and you’re wondering if you’ve made one huge mistake. bout is your magazine too — let’s hear from you.
P.S. This edition marks (approximately) ten years since we moved to a new magazine design. To commemorate the occasion and to give ourselves more freedom in using the photographs submitted for bout covers, we are modifying our design, without sacrificing the characteristic lower-case masthead. ACART, our longstanding design consultants, have assisted us in this project. But not only are we celebrating with a new design: we have, this issue, what I think readers will agree is a sensational cover photograph. bout readers are invited to submit suitable (but non-slanderous…) captions to accompany it; the winning entry will receive a large-format, full colour catalogue of the photographic exhibition “Pacific Currents”.
View the original scanned pages →
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1996) — Fall 1996 // Automne 1996, p. 2. Read the rest of this issue →
