4 ms·

Crafting a Sustainable New Republic

37 points by 001sky 12y ago

taurath 12y ago
I've heard this same speech given after several layoffs at large companies. This is pretty boilerplate stuff, and its distracting from the fact that he swooped in and lost nearly every single voice in the room.
waterlesscloud 12y ago
Hmmm. A perfect opportunity to set out his vision- he's never going to get more attention for it than right this moment. But he didn't take it at all. Virtually content free statement.
- ams6110 12y ago
  Exactly. Perhaps I lack imagination but I don't see what a periodical such as the New Republic really can or needs to do other than have their content online as print formats continue to decline in popularity. And after reading his statement, I had no better understanding of what his plans for a "sustainable" New Republic look like.
aaronbrethorst 12y ago
Why was this published on the Washington Post? You'd think that the owner and publisher of a magazine and news website would want to publish his thoughts about the future of that publication on the publication.
- mikeyouse 12y ago
  Probably many reasons but primarily TNR's subscription base has been dropping for years as their wonky analysis has fallen out of favor, so what better way to increase interest/awareness but to advertise the new approach in WaPo who have 20x as many subscribers that are mostly Washington based?
  - aaronbrethorst 12y ago
    It was a somewhat rhetorical question on my part, and it speaks volumes about the reach and relevance of TNR.
chasing 12y ago
"At the New Republic, I believe we owe it to ourselves and to this institution to aim to become a sustainable business and not position ourselves to rely on the largesse of an unpredictable few." Except that Hughes is one of those few who is in a position to allow the New Republic to create quality journalism while remaining financially protected. In fact, that's just about all he brings to the table, since he doesn't have a background in journalism or running an organization like this. If he wanted to grow a business, TNR feels like a strange project. Especially when it seems like journalists need the exact kind of protection that his wealth as an owner could've provided.
- deleted 12y ago
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  - deleted 12y ago
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r721 12y ago
Julia Ioffe's take on things: https://www.facebook.com/julia.ioffe.9/posts/10100377509389962 https://www.facebook.com/julia.ioffe.9/posts/101003775093899...
smacktoward 12y ago
Here's the weird bit. The "nut graf" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph) in Hughes' essay is: > At the heart of the conflict of the past few days is a divergent view on how the New Republic — and journalism more broadly — will survive. In one view, it is a “public trust” and not a business. It is something greater than a commercial enterprise, ineffable, an ideal that cannot be touched. Financially, it would be a charity. There is much experimentation in nonprofit journalism – ProPublica and the Texas Tribune are proving the model — and that may be the right path for certain institutions. At the New Republic, I believe we owe it to ourselves and to this institution to aim to become a sustainable business and not position ourselves to rely on the largesse of an unpredictable few. Our success is not guaranteed, but I think it’s critical to try. So he thinks it's "critical" that TNR be operated as a business, rather than a non-profit. OK, fine. But he never bothers to explain why. Why do they "owe it to ourselves and this institution to become a sustainable business", rather than a non-profit? Non-profits can be "sustainable" too, after all. But he never gets around to mounting an argument for why having TNR be a profitable business is "critical." He just asserts that this is so. It's like he wants to reply to his critics, but without actually engaging with their arguments in any substantive way. So it comes off reading like an internal monologue rather than a convincing argument.
- vasilipupkin 12y ago
  Because he doesn't want to continuously throw money down a bottomless pit? He may be ok with it not providing much financial return, but is it too much to not want to lose millions year after year?
  - vasilipupkin 12y ago
    ok, let me rephrase after a downvote: he is the owner, right? why is it unreasonable for him to want this publication he owns to be a business? Why does that require an explanation?
    - chasing 12y ago
      It's not unreasonable, of course. Except for the special case that he's worth $800m and the publication in question is the New Republic. And, as he notes, there is a trend of journalistic organizations eschewing the traditional for-profit model in order to sustain themselves and provide the quality journalism our country and world needs.
nkurz 12y ago
This article from a couple days ago offer some additional background and different (opinionated) perspective: Facebook Prince Purges The New Republic: Inside the Destruction of a 100-Year-Old Magazine Facebook billionaire Chris Hughes and his lieutenant from Yahoo gut one of journalism's great publications, setting off waves of resignations and tears... http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/05/the-new-republic-implodes.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/05/the-new-rep... Discussion of that article (under the more pedestrian title "Chris Hughes Purges The New Republic") took place here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8705410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8705410
mcfunley 12y ago
"I didn’t buy the New Republic to be the conservator of a small print magazine whose long-term influence and survival were at risk." Except TNR existed for a century as a subsidized, money-losing magazine. Buying the magazine without understanding that may have been a mistake. (Source for that is Jonathan Chait's rebuttal to those that equate earning a profit with social utility: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/new-republic-and-the-imperfect-media-market.html http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/new-republic-an... )
uncletaco 12y ago
Its funny he cited Vox Media as a place where innovation was happening. I think their "Latest News" column for 12/08/2014 speaks volumes to what Hughes plans on turning TNR into. Every headline is made to be clickbait. https://www.dropbox.com/s/90gd333hff849ih/Screenshot%202014-12-08%2000.09.15.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/90gd333hff849ih/Screenshot%202014-...

37 points by 001sky 12y ago

I've heard this same speech given after several layoffs at large companies. This is pretty boilerplate stuff, and its distracting from the fact that he swooped in and lost nearly every single voice in the room.

waterlesscloud 12y ago

Hmmm. A perfect opportunity to set out his vision- he's never going to get more attention for it than right this moment. But he didn't take it at all. Virtually content free statement.

ams6110 12y ago
Exactly. Perhaps I lack imagination but I don't see what a periodical such as the New Republic really can or needs to do other than have their content online as print formats continue to decline in popularity. And after reading his statement, I had no better understanding of what his plans for a "sustainable" New Republic look like.

aaronbrethorst 12y ago

Why was this published on the Washington Post? You'd think that the owner and publisher of a magazine and news website would want to publish his thoughts about the future of that publication on the publication.

mikeyouse 12y ago
Probably many reasons but primarily TNR's subscription base has been dropping for years as their wonky analysis has fallen out of favor, so what better way to increase interest/awareness but to advertise the new approach in WaPo who have 20x as many subscribers that are mostly Washington based?
- aaronbrethorst 12y ago
  It was a somewhat rhetorical question on my part, and it speaks volumes about the reach and relevance of TNR.

chasing 12y ago

"At the New Republic, I believe we owe it to ourselves and to this institution to aim to become a sustainable business and not position ourselves to rely on the largesse of an unpredictable few." Except that Hughes is one of those few who is in a position to allow the New Republic to create quality journalism while remaining financially protected. In fact, that's just about all he brings to the table, since he doesn't have a background in journalism or running an organization like this. If he wanted to grow a business, TNR feels like a strange project. Especially when it seems like journalists need the exact kind of protection that his wealth as an owner could've provided.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

r721 12y ago

Julia Ioffe's take on things: https://www.facebook.com/julia.ioffe.9/posts/10100377509389962 https://www.facebook.com/julia.ioffe.9/posts/101003775093899...

smacktoward 12y ago

Here's the weird bit. The "nut graf" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph) in Hughes' essay is: > At the heart of the conflict of the past few days is a divergent view on how the New Republic — and journalism more broadly — will survive. In one view, it is a “public trust” and not a business. It is something greater than a commercial enterprise, ineffable, an ideal that cannot be touched. Financially, it would be a charity. There is much experimentation in nonprofit journalism – ProPublica and the Texas Tribune are proving the model — and that may be the right path for certain institutions. At the New Republic, I believe we owe it to ourselves and to this institution to aim to become a sustainable business and not position ourselves to rely on the largesse of an unpredictable few. Our success is not guaranteed, but I think it’s critical to try. So he thinks it's "critical" that TNR be operated as a business, rather than a non-profit. OK, fine. But he never bothers to explain why. Why do they "owe it to ourselves and this institution to become a sustainable business", rather than a non-profit? Non-profits can be "sustainable" too, after all. But he never gets around to mounting an argument for why having TNR be a profitable business is "critical." He just asserts that this is so. It's like he wants to reply to his critics, but without actually engaging with their arguments in any substantive way. So it comes off reading like an internal monologue rather than a convincing argument.

vasilipupkin 12y ago
Because he doesn't want to continuously throw money down a bottomless pit? He may be ok with it not providing much financial return, but is it too much to not want to lose millions year after year?
- vasilipupkin 12y ago
  ok, let me rephrase after a downvote: he is the owner, right? why is it unreasonable for him to want this publication he owns to be a business? Why does that require an explanation?
  - chasing 12y ago
    It's not unreasonable, of course. Except for the special case that he's worth $800m and the publication in question is the New Republic. And, as he notes, there is a trend of journalistic organizations eschewing the traditional for-profit model in order to sustain themselves and provide the quality journalism our country and world needs.

nkurz 12y ago

This article from a couple days ago offer some additional background and different (opinionated) perspective: Facebook Prince Purges The New Republic: Inside the Destruction of a 100-Year-Old Magazine Facebook billionaire Chris Hughes and his lieutenant from Yahoo gut one of journalism's great publications, setting off waves of resignations and tears... http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/05/the-new-republic-implodes.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/05/the-new-rep... Discussion of that article (under the more pedestrian title "Chris Hughes Purges The New Republic") took place here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8705410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8705410

mcfunley 12y ago

"I didn’t buy the New Republic to be the conservator of a small print magazine whose long-term influence and survival were at risk." Except TNR existed for a century as a subsidized, money-losing magazine. Buying the magazine without understanding that may have been a mistake. (Source for that is Jonathan Chait's rebuttal to those that equate earning a profit with social utility: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/new-republic-and-the-imperfect-media-market.html http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/new-republic-an... )

uncletaco 12y ago

Its funny he cited Vox Media as a place where innovation was happening. I think their "Latest News" column for 12/08/2014 speaks volumes to what Hughes plans on turning TNR into. Every headline is made to be clickbait. https://www.dropbox.com/s/90gd333hff849ih/Screenshot%202014-12-08%2000.09.15.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/90gd333hff849ih/Screenshot%202014-...