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Seems like Hughes had the resources and opportunity to make the New Republic into a publication which could produce important journalism without being threatene
by chasing 11y ago
Seems like Hughes had the resources and opportunity to make the New Republic into a publication which could produce important journalism without being threatened by the increasing commodification of content. His purchase of the magazine could have truly been a significant statement: Good journalism is important, even if it's no longer profitable. He would have been lauded. The world would be a better place.
Instead.
He appears to have treated it like a tech start-up and, thus, seems like a guy who bought his way into a business he knew little about thinking he could turn a profit in a shitty market. And failed. And destroyed a beloved organization in the process. And injured his own reputation. All over a few tens of millions of dollars -- which is a lot to you and I, but is very little to him.
Sigh.
I'd say that I hope another wealthy benefactor could step in and do with the New Republic what Hughes should've done in the first place, but I worry that the New Republic is too damaged by now -- that it can't be what it was before. Which is a loss.
- humanrebar 11y agoThe New Republic was definitely beloved in the sense that some people loved it. It's not unanimous that The New Republic is a unique jewel in the universe of political commentary publications. Your points about needing to know good journalism before you can revolutionize a publication is well taken, though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Republic#Controversies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Republic#Controversies
- wyclif 11y agoYes, TNR is no longer a special snowflake. Much of the shine has come off, and their brand equity has taken an enormous hit. I hear Buzzfeed is hiring "writers", so TNR staffers shouldn't feel too despondent.
- rtpg 11y agoBroken record, maybe, but Buzzfeed does produce what you might qualify as "real" content. My favorite is their look at the passage of the AUMF http://www.buzzfeed.com/gregorydjohnsen/60-words-and-a-war-without-end-the-untold-story-of-the-most#.rj8Jwbwk8n http://www.buzzfeed.com/gregorydjohnsen/60-words-and-a-war-w...
- sirkneeland 11y agoIsn't that setting up TNR to meet a standard that no journalistic entity (or entity, period) can meet? (that is, being unanimously beloved)
- humanrebar 11y agoRead through the wikipedia link. Even if I disagree with someone's views, I should be able to respect the way they express them.
- obrero 11y ago> I worry that the New Republic is too damaged by now -- that it can't be what it was before Before what? Before was Stephen Glass's invented anti-black stories (and other invented stories). Bell Curve are blacks genetically stupider than whites covers. Or the cover with the smoking welfare queen and her pickaninny - "Day of Reckoning". And on and on. Most of the black writers I follow on Twitter were happy with Hughes changes. Before it was just a bunch of Jewish self-styled intellectuals who liked to dump on the schwartzes.
- chasing 11y agoI think you're unfairly using some of TNR's worst moments to condemn their entire body of work. (And it's a little bizarre to mock them for being Jewish in literally the same sentence that you accuse them of racism.)