We have discussed in class and in our blogs about the need for change within news organizations, and in particular those with print publications as their primary outlet for content, to stem the loss of revenue and personnel and make/keep themselves relevant. The clash of "old" versus "new" media has been playing out for the past several years at small community newspapers and international media conglomerates alike.
Last week, one clash at one organization was made very public. More than two dozen staff members at The New Republic, founded 100 years ago and based in Washington, D.C., quit to protest changes at the magazine by its new owner, Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook. Twenty former editors and writers penned an open letter to Hughes lamenting what they call the "destruction" of the magazine. Hughes' plans reportedly include moving it to New York and "rebranding" it as a "digital media company."
"The New Republic cannot be merely a 'brand.' It has never been and cannot be a 'media company' that markets 'content,'" Politico quotes from the letter. "Its essays, criticism, reportage, and poetry are not 'product.' It is not, or not primarily, a business. It is a voice, even a cause. It has lasted through numerous transformations of the 'media landscape' — transformations that, far from rendering its work obsolete, have made that work ever more valuable.
"The New Republic is a kind of public trust," it continued. "That is something all its previous owners and publishers understood and respected. The legacy has now been trashed, the trust violated. It is a sad irony that at this perilous moment, with a reactionary variant of conservatism in the ascendancy, liberalism’s central journal should be scuttled with flagrant and frivolous abandon. The promise of American life has been dealt a lamentable blow."
Without commenting on the virtues (or lack thereof) of Hughes' plans, this goes beyond just some longtime writers unable or unwilling to adapt to changing technologies. Those who signed the letter include Andrew Sullivan, who founded The Daily Dish (one of the first political blogs) in 2000; Sidney Blumenthal, the former Washington bureau chief for Salon.com; and Evan Smith, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Texas Tribune, one of the most successful and acclaimed digital news organizations.
These are not people who are afraid of technology or of change; they embrace it. This is a deep philosophical divide over the meaning and mission of The New Republic. I think this is something many other news operations will face as they rethink their business and editorial models. Hopefully we as readers and viewers and citizens will not be the losers in the end.
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