Top Editors Quit The New Republic
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Franklin Foer, the editor in chief of The New Republic, and Leon Wieseltier, the magazine’s longtime literary editor, have resigned over disagreements with the publisher and new CEO.
Foer told his colleagues in a memo Thursday that he was departing because Chris Hughes, The New Republic’s publisher and owner, and Guy Vidra, the CEO, have substantially different visions for the future of the publication, The New York Times reported. Hughes is a co-founder of Facebook and hired Foer after he bought the magazine in 2012.
The departures of Foer and Wieseltier were announced in a subsequent statement on Thursday issued by Vidra, the former general manager of Yahoo! News who was hired by Hughes in September.
Foer will be replaced by Gabriel Snyder, who has worked for Bloomberg Media, The Wire and Gawker, The New York Times reported.
Foer and Wieseltier are both Jewish. Foer is the older brother of novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. Wieseltier had been the literary editor of The New Republic since 1983.
The magazine has a history of Jewish editors and frequently covers Jewish topics and developments in Israel. Its past Jewish editors include Peter Beinart, Hendrik Hertzberg and Martin Peretz.
In July, the magazine published an in-depth story detailing how the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks fell apart.
Vidra’s statement also noted that The New Republic will move to an office in New York from its current location in Washington.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
