I feel genuinely sad for the fans of The New Republic who see the institution changing suddenly, and seemingly for the worse, under new ownership. It sends a chill down a writer’s spine to hear about a chief executive who finds the product boring and who doesn’t like to read long articles, and it’s got to be gratuitously humiliating to read in another publication that you’ve been replaced as editor, and to have to call your boss to learn that the report is indeed true. You can learn a lot about someone from how they treat other people — maybe all you really need to know. Hopefully everybody over there lands on their feet, and they get a chance to create a new publication or adapt an existing one that restores the unique qualities that are being lost under the new regime.
For fans of TNR and its contributors, who feel like they’re watching a beloved institution with an unparalleled history and place in their lives get taken over by a bunch of irresponsible, arrogant, smug, habitually dishonest radicals with more money than good sense, who don’t appreciate the institution’s tradition, greatness, or place in history, who are convinced they know best, who disregard all criticism, ignore all warning signs, and are running the place into the ground . . .
. . . millions of Americans know exactly how you feel.