DoubleTake, an award-winning magazine once affiliated with the University through the Center for Documentary Studies, has ceased publication. According to the DoubleTake website, the magazine is attempting to re-organize its financial and business management, but does not plan to release any future issues or web reports until January 2004 at the earliest.
The magazine was published at Duke between the summer of 1995 and the spring of 1999, after which its production moved to Massachusetts. This year, DoubleTake was unable to meet its financial needs, despite a recent fundraiser featuring rock legend Bruce Springsteen that brought in over $1 million.
Alex Harris, professor of the practice in the CDS and one of the co-founders of DoubleTake, said he wanted the magazine to be remembered for its progressive ideals as opposed to its financial troubles.
As editor, he emphasized the role of photography in the magazine, which won several awards including the 1998 National Magazine Award for Editorial Excellence in the category of General Excellence.
"It's one thing to look at its economic demise, but I really feel like DoubleTake in those first few years treated photography and photographers in a way they had never been treated before... as equal to writing and not something to go with it," Harris said. "I'm not sure if [the magazine] kept that direction."
Despite its early success, the magazine had a history of funding problems, which ultimately led to its separation from the University in 1999. CDS Director of External Affairs Lynn Mcknight said financial considerations played a definitive role in the Board of Directors' decision to cut ties with the magazine.
"The CDS had a lot of other things going on. It was a resource decision," she said. The magazine continued production in Massachusetts until the spring of 2003.
Harris described his time with the magazine as an "extraordinary experience in publishing."
However, when time for a decision for the future of the magazine came, he remained at Duke while the magazine moved on--both in its place of and aims as a publication.
Harris also commented on the national impact the magazine had on photography in the media industry.
"[DoubleTake was] unique in American publishing," Harris said. "It influenced the way other media began to use photography in relation to writing."
Administrators at the CDS are disappointed to see the magazine go, but understand the volatility of the industry.
"Running a magazine is a difficult business," said Alexa Dilworth, assistant editor for CDS. "It's too bad."
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