The New Republic is shifting to a biweekly format, though they say they'll be publishing a longer book. What's more, Canadian media conglomerate Canwest is going to own 75 percent of the magazine. Editor in Chief Martin Peretz will continue to own a 25 percent stake and will continue to serve as editor in chief. The Asper family, which controls CanWest, has basically Peretz-esque ideological views so I wouldn't expect any dramatic changes.
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The New TNR
24 Feb 2007 11:07 am
Comments (21)
I have a scoop on the source of Peretz's money.
His wife is Anne Labouisse Farnsworth Peretz, daughter of H.R. Labouisse and Elizabeth Scriven Clark. The money came from Singer Sewing machines, but not from Isaac Merrit Singer (who had over 20 children by more than five wives). Mrs. Peretz is descended from Edward Clark, Singer's patent lawyer, who was given a hefty share in the company for defending against a lawsuit from Elias Howe, who claimed to be the actual inventor of the sewing machine. But Walter Hunt, the real actual inventor of the sewing machine (who also invented the safety pin) didn't even try to claim credit.
So you see, intellectual property scandals go way back.
Some of Singer's daughter married lowlife European princes and became patrons of the arts, notably Winnaretta, the Princess of Polignac.
I love how Foer is acting like this is going to really shift them back to the left. How is it a guy who has written a book on how soccer explains the world and believes this is some amazing insight becomes the editor of the self-appointed "serious" liberal magazine shows how completely clueless and irrelevant TNR has made itself the past few years.
I rarely read TNR, so I have a question: what is it for? I have never really gotten it. On the one hand, it seems to present itself as a liberal journal; on the other, it seems more often to attack Democrats and support the most outrageous Bush policies. Is it the Joe Lieberman of journals? I wish it would go away. The Left needs a new,serious (thus eliminating the Nation) journal. One that stands for Left ideals but doesn't do so in a weak way.
Even Foer's book on how soccer explains the world included the usual TNR snears at Europe's 'antisemitism' and at Iran. It was exactly the sort of book that Peretz would write if he knew anything about soccer.
I grew up watching the rise of the Asper media empire, and my pre-reflective intuitions are that they're significantly to the left of Peretz on at least some foreign policy-type questions. Izzy has a reputation for being a Likudnik, but he's also closely aligned with the last two liberal PMs, who kept Canada out of Iraq. Of course, I can't rememember what the national Post said about Iraq in '02-'03, so. . . .
I've grown sated with anti-TNR/anti-Peretz news. Nobody blogs against ague, cancer, flat tires, etc.
For a reason.
Eh. Foer (or perhaps it's MacNeil) will either get this done and reconnect to the magazine's traditional market or he won't. I suspect the magazine will have to clear out some of the deadwood that remains, but maybe not. I'm sure lots of people are pulling for the rehabilitation of the magazine; part of me is. What seems clear is that TNR's ability to sanctify an idea as "smart" or "thoughtful," or a career as "promising," is weakened. That's a good thing, and that's probably the important thing.
Most everything we've read suggests Yglesias is correct. For example, the late Izzy Asper may have been to the "left" of Peretz on some issues but like sons David and Leonard, was an "unyielding" Zionist [1] though daughter Gail is (politically) somewhere below radar.
[1] http://www.canada.com/national/features/asper/story.html?id=63a6de4d-2954-40be-8395-b2b2e586052a
"The Asper family, which controls CanWest, has basically Peretz-esque ideological views so I wouldn't expect any dramatic changes."
This is true but CanWest media organs in Canada are not as unhinged in their neocon views as Peretz.
It could be because Canada is a more liberal country and it would be difficult to sell Krauthammeresque views to their readers. Conservatives in Canada are sort of like Ted Kennedy. They are for universal health care, gun control, anti death penalty, pro choice, pro evolution.
"I grew up watching the rise of the Asper media empire, and my pre-reflective intuitions are that they're significantly to the left of Peretz on at least some foreign policy-type questions."
Agree. But again this might be more of a market demand thing than a reflection of Asper family's political views.
CanWest is in the business to make money. If they pushed neocon views in their papers they wouldn't be able to sell papers and make a profit in a country that is overwhelmingly liberal.
BTW, this is sort of the explanation I have for why the Washington Post endorses Democratic nominees for President every four years. Their editorial page is neocon and overall they seem to be more comfortable with GOP presidents. They got along with Reagan and the two Bushes. It was open warfare with Carter and Clinton. I think they end up endorsing Dems at presidential elections because DC population is overhwelmingly Democratic and they want to sell papers. They don't want to totally alienate their readership and lose circulaton.
thicker and deeper! now there's a bold marketing strategem.
i can't be bothered to google up the original announcement stories to check my facts here, but i seem to recall reading something like TNR's circulation had tanked by around 50% over the last couple of years.
whatever on earth makes them imagine that piling it on thicker (better quality printing stock was definitely promised) and deeper (twice as many pages!) is going to make their manure any more appetizing?
the fact that liberals endlessly bitch about TNR proves that it is still relevant. and they still do a lot of good liberal reporting (remember george allen?). TNR likes to buck conventional wisdom (to a fault), and it's good to have a voice like that in the media. even if it gets some things wrong.
also, the magazine does not just reflect peretz's political views. i'm not going to back that assertion up, because anyone who so much glances at the web site would know that.
also, the magazine does not just reflect peretz's political views. i'm not going to back that assertion up, because anyone who so much glances at the web site would know that.
agreed. the magazine does not "just reflect peretz" because it faithfully redounds to herzl et al. i'm not going to back that assertion up because anyone with opposable thumbs would know that.
The problem is though that TNR exists to be TNR at this point. Writers there exude this weird sense of a holier-than-thou attitude, as if liberal America is there to please them and live up to their standards. You have ex-socialists like Chait playing their role as the self-selected arbiter of "respectable" liberal thought. They sum up pretty much everything wrong with DC. Once in a while they have good contributor pieces from writers like Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen, but at this point they are just a parody of themselves. The people who write the good stories really don't seem to be the ones in charge there.
TNR sucks. This is one of those facts that, while widely acknowledged, really does need to be pointed out again and again.
Besides, they fired Matt's friend. I would hope that all of us, in similar circusmtances, would have the loyalty to mount an equally endless online jihad.
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Comments closed March 10, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
With luck, we can look forward to TNR's coming shifts to monthly and eventually semi-annual formats.
Posted by otto | February 24, 2007 11:33 AM