Meltdown at The New Republic magazine after shakeup

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The New Republic, a century-old left-leaning political magazine bought by a Facebook billionaire in 2012, has been plunged into turmoil after a shakeup ousting its top editors, amid a shift to digital.
Numerous senior editors announced their resignations yesterday to protest the departure of chief editor Franklin Foer and literary editor Leon Wieseltier, reportedly prompted by owner Chris Hughes.
Hughes this week announced plans to cut the frequency of the print magazine and reconfigure the organisation as a digital media group, according to a memo leaked to several media outlets.
The magazine is also moving its offices to New York City from Washington.

Julia Ioffe, a senior editor, announced her resignation in a Facebook posting joined by 10 other top journalists at the 100-year-old publication.
"Today, I did something I thought I'd never do and quit The New Republic. It has been, hands down, the happiest, most satisfying, most intellectually stimulating place I've ever worked and my colleagues were, hands down, the most competent, talented, and decent people in the business," she said.

Ioffe denounced "the cowardly, hostile way Frank and Leon and the rest of us were treated."
Ioffe said Hughes and chief executive Guy Vidra attempted to portray the editors as "dinosaurs who think that the Internet is scary" but that the staff was "not afraid of change."

Contributing editor Jonathan Chait, who also quit, wrote a lengthy "eulogy" for the publication in New York Magazine.
"The conflict between Hughes and most of the staff of The New Republic is not about technology," Chait wrote.
"The problem, rather, is that Hughes and Vidra are afflicted with the belief that they can copy the formula that transformed the Huffington Post and BuzzFeed into economic successes, which is probably wrong, and that this formula can be applied to The New Republic, which is certainly wrong."
A list reproduced on Twitter showed the names of more than a dozen editors resigning in protest.

The Daily Beast reported that a letter signed by 10 contributing editors asked for their names to be removed from the masthead.
"Dear Mr Hughes, We are contributing editors of The New Republic, and our commitment to the venerable principles of the magazine requires us now to resign," the letter said.
Hughes said in a tweet stream that he was "saddened by the loss of such great talent."
He followed up by writing that "I am excited to work with our team -- both new and old alike -- as we pave a new way forward.