More than two dozen members of the New Republic’s staff resigned Friday in a newsroom upheaval sparked by the departure of the magazine’s top two editors.
Editor Franklin Foer and literary editor Leon Wieseltier announced their sudden resignations from the left-leaning opinion magazine Thursday, a move that shocked many in media circles.
Friday’s mass resignations are in response to owner Chris Hughes’ desire to see the publication transition from its current format into “a digital media company.”
The 100-year-old magazine will also move to New York City from its current spot in the nation’s capital. Further staff reductions are expected.
Among those who resigned Friday are senior editors Jonathan Cohn, Isaac Chotiner, Julia Ioffe and John Judis, dance editor Jennifer Homans, poetry editor Henri Cole and contributing editor Ryan Lizza.
“The narrative you’re going to see Chris and Guy put out there is that I and the rest of my colleagues who quit today were dinosaurs, who think that the Internet is scary and that Buzzfeed is a slur,” Ioffe said in a Facebook post.
“Don’t believe them. The staff at TNR has always been faithful to the magazine’s founding mission to experiment, and nowhere have I been so encouraged to do so.”
The New Republic was launched in 1914 with the idea of being the leading publication to advance progressive values.
“There was no opposition in the editorial ranks to expanding TNR’s web presence, to innovating digitally. Many were even board for going monthly. We’re not afraid of change. We have always embraced it,” she wrote.
Ioffe added that the New Republic’s digital media editor Hillary Kelly resigned Friday while on her honeymoon in Africa.
“Thing is, neither Chris Hughes nor [chief executive Guy Vidra] bothered to communicate anything to the editorial staff. Nothing. It’s been silence for months,” she said separately in a tweet. “Chris Hughes, some advice for you: instead of ‘sending signals’ to your staff, talk to them. Honestly.”
Hughes purchased the New Republic in 2012 when he was just 28 years old. He had originally set out to restore the publication’s standing in Washington, D.C., and media circles, to give it a much-needed boost as its monthly paid circulation numbers continued in their decades-long downward spiral. Failing to do this, the young entrepreneur has now set his mind to rebranding the New Republic as a streamlined online media venture.
“I am saddened by the loss of such great talent, many of whom have played an important role in making the New Republic so successful in the past. It has been a privilege to work with them, and I wish them only the best,” Hughes said in a statement Friday.
“This is a time of transition, but I am excited to work with our team — both new and old alike — as we pave a new way forward. The singular importance of the New Republic as an institution can and will be preserved, because it’s bigger than any one of us,” he said.
