The 3-minute interview: David Silverberg
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
October 18, 2009
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In 2004, while the rest of the media industry was busy collapsing, David Silverberg and his friends began Homeland Security Today, a glossy magazine for those charged with our nation's defense.
How's the magazine doing?
Very well, I'm very pleased to say. We've been very steady, even in difficult times. We have an extremely loyal readership and the necessity for homeland security hasn't diminished, regardless of economic ups and downs. We've got a 76 percent renewal rate in our subscriptions.
How did you get into this?
My background was in defense journalism. I spent a number of years with a newspaper called Defense News. I was managing editor of the Hill for a couple of years. I wrote a book called, "Congress for Dummies." On 9/11, I was on the Hill. We could see the White House being evacuated. We could see the Pentagon burning across the Potomac River. You knew the people who had done this were aiming those planes at you. Then, on top of that, came the murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter [Daniel Pearl] because he was Jewish. I thought, "These people are out there trying to destroy civilization, they're killing Jews -- how can I do something?" I was too old for the military, but I knew how to make magazines.
What has been the biggest surprise so far?
The biggest surprise, in some respects, has been working with the Department of Homeland Security. It has been vastly more difficult than I expected. We've been through the Chertoff years, we're now in the Napolitano years. We're getting somewhat more cooperation now, but frequently you don't get a response.
What are you proudest of at the magazine so far?
You have to understand what the situation was when we went into this. Homeland security, as a discipline, didn't exist. I believe we had a hand in creating the homeland security discipline. We created a genre of publication that didn't previously exist.
-- Bill Myers
