A 100-year-old magazine’s attempts to maintain its readership amid a major shakeup continues apace, the publication’s future uncertain.
“[I]f our founders sat down today to settle on the best way to achieve this mission, they would not have picked a weekly printed magazine and ignored a vast array of digital publishing possibilities,” New Republic editor-in-chief Gabriel Snyder said in a note to the magazine’s readers on Monday.
“And just like any publication with hopes of success in the world of 2014, they would want The New Republic to be better at welcoming into our fold readers, writers, and editors who reflect the American experience as it exists today,” the note added.
The magazine’s management has launched a campaign to explain the publication’s future to its readers after a staff shakeup earlier this year prompted mass resignations and countless angry eulogies from East Coast pundits and journalists.
“As we revive one proud legacy of The New Republic — the launching of new voices and experts — those new voices and experts will be diverse in race, gender, and background,” Gabriel continued in the note. “As we build our editorial staff, we will reach out to talented journalists who might have previously felt unwelcome at The New Republic. If this publication is to be influential, and not merely survive, it can no longer afford to represent the views of one privileged class, nor appeal solely to a small demographic of political elites.”
“What will change is that our biggest stories will be the beginning of our efforts, not their finale: they will be commitments for change, set the agenda for our daily coverage, and shape the conversations we have on social media. In the final years of the Obama presidency, during which big-hearted idealism withered in front of cynicism about the present and pessimism about the future, we must be pragmatic, forward-looking, and tireless pursuers of solutions, not only the bearers of problems,” he continued.
For now, 31-year-old millionaire owner Chris Hughes plans to transform the magazine from its more traditional format into a sleek new online media venture.
