Guy Vidra's Open Letter to "New Republic" Readers
...My first job out of college was as a junior editor for a small publication in Dublin, Ireland. When I moved back to the United States, I worked as a copy editor for a company many do not remember today called Bridge News. At the time, Bridge was one of the largest financial news providers in the world but was quickly displaced by a faster moving competitor, Bloomberg. It was the first of many times in my career when I witnessed a traditional media outlet upended by a new competitor on the landscape.
My career has provided me with the privilege of working with some of the world’s best publishers. I have sat beside talented writers and editors and share their dedication to informing society and impacting the world through analysis and insight. I also saw those newsrooms suffer through round after round of layoffs. I saw resources cut. I heard prognostication that the world of publishing was nearing its end. Only one or two of us will remain, many said. In the last few years, however, we’ve seen publishers old and new defy those predictions.... through an array of different strategies--all of which use technology in the service of journalism....
I firmly believe that those who say that this publication was only ever meant to reach a small audience are wrong.... The New Republic has always been a place where contrarian views were embraced and ideas with impact flourished... published an unparalleled back of the book for decades and always sought to provide depth of ideas and high-mindedness to our society and our world.... There is a hunger for depth of ideas. We will provide that depth....
When we spend the time and energy to do a longform piece, we will create formats for our readers to engage with that information outside of print... immerse themselves in that story... imagery and video... tools to let you tailor the types of stories you read depending on the time of day or where you may be... writers and editors... product managers, engineers, designers, data visualization and multimedia editors.... What will not change is our dedication to the ideals that underpin our institution—experimentation, opinion, argument, ideas, and quality.
