
Crafting a Sustainable New Republic - 001sky
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chris-hughes-crafting-a-sustainable-new-republic/2014/12/07/2138faf6-7e28-11e4-9f38-95a187e4c1f7_story.html
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chasing
"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.

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mcfunley
"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-an...](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/new-republic-and-
the-imperfect-media-market.html) )

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waterlesscloud
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
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.

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smacktoward
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.

~~~
rst
He also fails to state in any clear way what, concretely, Foer, Wieseltier,
Ioffe, et al wanted that was inconsistent with his idea of a "businesslike"
mode of operation, whatever that means...

~~~
tw04
Catering to the twitter generation instead of, you know, actual journalism.

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taurath
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.

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nkurz
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-
rep...](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/05/the-new-republic-
implodes.html)

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)

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r721
Julia Ioffe's take on things:
[https://www.facebook.com/julia.ioffe.9/posts/101003775093899...](https://www.facebook.com/julia.ioffe.9/posts/10100377509389962)

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aaronbrethorst
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
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
It was a somewhat rhetorical question on my part, and it speaks volumes about
the reach and relevance of TNR.

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uncletaco
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-...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/90gd333hff849ih/Screenshot%202014-12-08%2000.09.15.png?dl=0)

