Discussion for article #231423
“As we build our editorial staff, we will reach out to talented journalists who might have previously felt unwelcome at The New Republic,” he wrote. “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.”
Anyone familiar with any of the the new contributors? I plead ignorance though this statement honestly sounds like a version of “fair and balanced”.
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Haven’t heard anything about Sarah Palin as of late.
Rumour has it, she has put in an application.
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More diverse writers? So is that code for “fair and balanced” and pretty much breaking TNR’s historical of liberal leaning?
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Ha, beat me to it…“fair and balanced” s exactly what I heard too. Some rich fucker buys it and suddenly poof, no more liberalism at all, just false equivalence in service of his daydreams of competing with the MSM for who can weave the biggest BS narratives to turn a profit.
Dude said “influential” and we all know what is required for “influence”. Dollah dollah bills y’all…$$$$$$$$$$…
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I’ve googled a few of the names and it seems they might actually be liberals, though it’s hard to discern due to limited information.
Too many women- Howie Kurtz won’t be impressed.
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TNR supported the Iraq invasion, Israel no matter what, trumpeted ¨The Bell Curve¨ and endorsed Joe Lieberman for President in 2004, so its liberal bona fides were somewhat in question.
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Diversity was not the issue that ruined the New Republic. Power-mad and mindless editors and publishers like Marty Peretz and, apparently, the new guy, continue to be the issue.
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Said Gabriel, “I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple.”
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New contributors? No one will give a rats ass…they have seemingly blown up their brand and will have a herculean task in getting the revised version to be relevant.
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TNR was, historically, basically a whites-only joint, as Ta Nehesi Coates and others have noted. It was also pretty much a boys club, though they did let Betsy McCaughey in to blow up Hillarycare. It also played a starring role in purging the Democratic Party of actual liberals (/progressives/whatever) during the Clintonian “New Democrat” era. It was also owned by a straight up racist, Marty Peretz, and published straight up white supremacist propaganda. So fuck the old New Republic, and if by “diversity” they mean women and people of color and maybe even someone who’s experienced a little economic adversity in their lives, hurray for the new New Republic. And thank you, Internet, for destroying the old model of news media as exclusive domain of rightwing old white dudes.
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He addresses the past political content-- and all who have agreed with it-- in the shortest, snottiest, most insulting words possible.
Thus assuring that the future readers will be everybody imaginable-- except anybody who has ever read TNR in the past.
This is a business plan so brilliant that I cannot even begin to grasp it.
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+1 informative
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Thanks for that. Coates’ article was great. And I had forgotten about McCaughey. She was clearly a nut job, but I guess since she wasn’t a lazy latino, education-adverse black, or savage Muslim, she had Peretz’ ear.
As opposed to the gang of Neo-Con warmongers who previously ran the magazine into the ground? I expect the new version of TNR to lean left but maybe also try to expand their readership and perhaps even make a small profit. TNR might benefit if it is no longer just Marty Peretz’ plaything. I say this a former subscriber who grew weary of the magazine’s rightward drift. That being said, the new management has not been impressive.
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Exciting! Let me run right out and not subscribe again!
More diverse writers - TRANSLATION - '“We’ll be getting some wimmins and a black guy!”
I thought everybody had forgotten former Interior Secretary Jim Watt.
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Here’s one the diverse editors out for a drive: