Former New Republic Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier, pictured with Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan in 2012, was the second of nearly 50 former staffers to walk out on the magazine as it prepares to shift into a digital media outlet . UPI/Mike Theiler/HO |
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Nearly 50 now-former New Republic editors and contributors walked out on their jobs as owner Chris Hughes moves forward with plans to transition the century-old print magazine into a web-focused digital media outlet.
Editor-in-chief Franklin Foer and literary editor Leon Wieseltier resigned Thursday, citing disapproval of Hughes' pending changes, including cutting the magazine's print order in half and moving its headquarters from Washington D.C. to New York City.
Although 31-year-old Hughes' new vision was neither a secret nor a surprise, Foer's decision to resign came upon learning Hughes already hired his replacement, former Gawker and current Bloomberg Media editor Gabriel Snyder, according to Politico. By Friday afternoon, over half of TNR's masthead had resigned.
"The narrative you're going to see Chris and [CEO Guy Vidra] 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," wrote former senior editor Julia Ioffe in a Facebook post.
"Don't believe them."
"We all recognized things needed to change, but not at the expense of destroying what was working so well," echoed Senior Editor Jason Zengerle to the Huffington Post. "Not if you were going to turn the print magazine into a vestigial limb."
"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 tweeted in response to the mass resignations.
"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."
