View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Comment
January 30, 2013

‘We’re not trying to beat the Huffington Post’

By Jon Bernstein

Question: How do you reinvigorate a 98-year old US news and current affairs magazine for the digital age?

Answer: Hire a 29 year-old former Facebook executive. Naturally.

Chris Hughes was one of the social media company's co-founders and also spent time advising the Obama campaign. Now he’s publisher of the New Republic and judging by his interview with NPR earlier this week, he’s got plenty of smart and sensible things to say.

You can listen to the whole thing here but here are some extracts:

Depth and heft vs. dash and speed

For us, we're not trying to compete with The New York Times or The Huffington Posts of the world to get that first dash of the headlines in the morning. Where you're much more likely to read The New Republic is at lunch, in the evenings, on the weekends — the moments when you want to try and go a little bit deeper and get some context and analysis on the journalism of the day.

On the future of print

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

We make money off of print. And in addition to that, I personally love print. I mean, I tend to read on my phone and my iPad, but on the weekends in particular, I love sitting down with a print magazine and going page by page. So, it makes business sense for us, and it also is something that I love. So we're committed to print for the foreseeable future.

 

There's more from Hughes on the New Republic site here.

 

Topics in this article : , ,

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network