Reporting-Like Program Activities

So if CanWest is buying out 100 percent of The New Republic, why is Martin Peretz staying on as editor in chief? Well, the Official Rumor as in I heard it from A Guy who said he had it from A Guy who was in A Position to Know is that Peretz was only willing to sell on condition that he remain editor in chief for some time period (the rumors grow variable on this point) and that CanWest agreed to this condition.

Of course, in any business there are titles and then there's power. Peretz never ran the magazine on a day-to-day basis and presumably isn't going to start, so if he's not going to own the magazine -- even partially -- it's not clear what sort of practical influence the editor in chief title would give him. At the same time, as I said before, the family that owns CanWest has Peretz-esque views on Israel so it's not likely that you're going to see sweeping ideological changes as a result of this.

Comments

But now that a non-Peretz owns the magazine, CanWest might be able to be humiliated into dumping Master P. for an embarassing racist rant. Surely some Palestinian-loving Canadians can put pressure on these guys?

Posted by neil | February 28, 2007 9:29 AM

Marty is softening in his emeritus years. He now thinks certain older Arabs may have a soul after all.

Posted by Petey | February 28, 2007 9:39 AM

I agree with Neil. It's not the pro-Israeli stuff that MP writes that's offensive (that's just over the top and poorly written), it's the anti-Arab/Muslim racism. Of course, the debut of "The Spine" (such modesty!) has made my TNR reading experience much more enjoyable, although James Kirchick seems like MP's Mini Me on The Plank.

Posted by Dave | February 28, 2007 9:48 AM

I wonder what TNR's regular readers think of this. All 500 of them.

Posted by Peter | February 28, 2007 9:59 AM

"I wonder what TNR's regular readers think of this. All 500 of them."

Multiply by 100 to get to the paid subscriber readers. Multiply by maybe another 50 to get to the unpaid readers on the website.

Posted by Petey | February 28, 2007 10:03 AM

You don't think all those tens of thousands of people actually read the magazine, do you? Most of them probably just leave it lying around to look sophisticated.

Posted by neil | February 28, 2007 10:13 AM

James Kirchick seems like MP's Mini Me on The Plank.

Gawd, yes.

Multiply by 100 to get to the paid subscriber readers. Multiply by maybe another 50 to get to the unpaid readers on the website.

Where are you getting the online figures from, Petey?

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | February 28, 2007 10:25 AM

I actually leave TAP lying around to impress the liberals who walk through my door and keep my TNR subscription digital only so I don't have to worry about anyone accidentally finding it.

Posted by Bertie | February 28, 2007 10:27 AM

and keep my TNR subscription digital only so I don't have to worry about anyone accidentally finding it.

If that's true, that's awesome. And totally appropriate.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | February 28, 2007 10:32 AM

I wonder if any of the Singer sewing machine money is left? Did Peretz blow it all ruining TNR, or did his once-lovely wife finally put her foot down?

Is a divorce in the offing? (Obviously no new heiress showed up; Peretz's 60-year-old schlong has lost its magic). Will the two of them soon be eating cat food, shabbily genteel and surrounded with relics of their past glory? Will the wife spend the rest of her life buttonholing strangers and explaining that her husband once taught at Harvard, and at one time was famous and influential?

Probably not, but let's dream.

Posted by John Emerson | February 28, 2007 10:46 AM

For Marty, all politics is solipsism. To judge from his writings, his balding pate is completely impervious to reason once he's taken a personal stance on a person or issue. People who disagree with Peretez on foreign policy matters are Bad, generally being Dupes, Evil, or Evil Dupes. On the other hand, Al Gore is Good, even though if his last name were, say, Carter, he would certainly be an Evil Dupe. And although there's little daylight between HRC and Peretez on many matters, her last name definitely makes her Evil.

This isn't nuance -- it's cognitive dissonance on a scale that could power a fission reaction.

Posted by WatchfulBabbler | February 28, 2007 10:53 AM

I wonder what King Peretz might have to say about that AFP story suggesting that Israel was seeking American taxpayer funds to cover the cost of Israel's war with Hezbollha.

Posted by Linus | February 28, 2007 11:36 AM

Who really gives a shit about Marty Peretz? This journalism inside-baseball stuff is getting old.

Posted by Alex | February 28, 2007 1:37 PM

The Asper family (which owns CanWest) also bought the national post from Conrad Black. And then David Asper did this:

Mr. [David] Asper, ...executive vice-president of Winnipeg-based CanWest Global Communications Corp., "made an obscene and lewd gesture to [her] by unzipping the fly of his pants, sticking his finger out of his pants towards [her] to make it look like he was sticking out his penis and wiggling it."

Sounds like TNR office parties are going to get more interesting!

Posted by Ikram | February 28, 2007 1:45 PM

Because Peretz controls of the very few venues giving career-track jobs to liberal journalists, that's why.

And because he's a sick fuck, he's inflicted a parade of creepy neoliberals (and worse) on us -- Sullivan, Krauthammer, Kelly, and several others. (Hertzberg was the only one to get past him undamaged). He's made Chait and several others into much worse journalists than they otherwise might have been.

If there several similiar journals existed, equally well-funded and equally well-connected, Peretz would be very margical. But there aren't.

As I've said many times, the liberal money people are either morons or else fake liberals, because they won't fund media.

Posted by John Emerson | February 28, 2007 1:55 PM

Well, the Official Rumor as in I heard it from A Guy who said he had it from A Guy who was in A Position to Know is that Peretz was only willing to sell on condition that he remain editor in chief for some time period (the rumors grow variable on this point) and that CanWest agreed to this condition.

That's a pretty common provision in the sale of closely-held businesses. It allows the owner to get some liquidity and yet still keep working. Often there is a provision that the purchase price varies depending on how well the business does why the former owner continues to work there.

Posted by Al | February 28, 2007 2:00 PM

If Marty were to abdicate his editorial station now, it would make very clear that he is not a man of letters, but was a publisher pretending to be an editor. That would be as unthinkable for him as surrendering his vanity post at Harvard.

Posted by Tyrone Slothrop | February 28, 2007 2:57 PM

The Aspers want Marty to run TNR because they agree with him - that's the real problem. The current generation of Aspers' father was a Liberal in Canada and at the same time thought the Israeli government could do no wrong and shouldn't make any compromise with Arabs. Ring any bells?

Posted by Tim Robinson | February 28, 2007 4:49 PM

Because Peretz controls of the very few venues giving career-track jobs to liberal journalists, that's why.

You are aware that he isn't involved in the day-to-day operation of the magazine don't you? You are aware that in all the presumably left of center publications, Peretz is only in charge of one of them. And if TNR is dying, dead or otherwise irrelvant as it's detractors often state, why would it matter.

TNR; the totally lame, irrelevant magazine that people can't seem to stop talking about. Methinks you guys should quit protesting so much and just sleep together already.

Posted by DRR | February 28, 2007 7:16 PM

Dude, you know what? You and Spencer are the ONLY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD who care what happens at The New Republic. I only slightly care what happens to The American Prospect and The Washington Monthly, and I read the blogs there all the time. Nothing TNR does matters to ANYONE. Seriously. I love your writing but drop this.

Posted by william | February 28, 2007 7:46 PM

Bullshit, DRR and William. Peretz and TNR are harmful but not irrelevant. Their people are often hired by the bigger media, and Peretz's money has screwed up a fair number of writers who otherwise might have been pretty good.

Posted by John Emerson | February 28, 2007 7:54 PM

But in the big picture, there just seem to be so many more important things for Matt to spend his time and energy on. Like thinking interestingly and sensibly about actual policy issues.

Posted by william | February 28, 2007 8:03 PM

Speaking for myself, I'd be happy either to see Peretz dumped and TNR revive, or for TNR to just fold. Preferably the former, since TNR has a 90+-year-tradition.

Posted by John Emerson | February 28, 2007 8:23 PM

It's because if he doesn't have at least the illusion of a job he'd be nothing more than a housefrau for his wife.

Posted by Fledermaus | February 28, 2007 9:21 PM

Nothing TNR does matters to ANYONE.

The old on-flight magazine of air force one? Are you saying it's become irrelevant or that it was never influential?

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