Greatest money pit in magazine history

How David Remnick has reinvigorated the New Yorker? “There was no one thing, just a matter of paying attention to expenses, focusing on building real circulation instead of giving away copies, subtracting some writers, adding others.”

During a lunch interview with the Financial Times (UK) Remnick, an editor-in-chief who managed to grow the New Yorker’s readership and helped to move its balance sheet from red to black, shares his views:

• About building a dream team in his newsroom: “You find the players to put on the field [as the New York Yankees’ legendary former manager Joe Torre kept saying] and you put them there and let them do what they do best.”
• About “existential crisis” that American newspapers fell in and magazines escaped: “I’ve had dinner with newspaper editors of all ranks, and the conversations sometimes feel like a suicide watch. (…) The best way to read a magazine is still on paper, but, for those for whom it is second nature to read online, I want to be there. I’m unwilling to make idiotic predictions about what’s going to be in print and what’s not going to be in print, I just don’t know. But I’m damned if I’m not going to be there.”
• About considerations to extend the New Yorker brand overseas: “The question is to what degree is The New Yorker so sui generis and American that it won’t translate into a successful foreign product. I don’t know but it’s something I want to find out.”

David Remnick has been the editor of The New Yorker magazine since 1998. He started his career as a reporter for the Washington Post. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire. (According to Wikipedia)

Suggest an article of note

1. Your Name(required)
2. Email(valid email required)
3. Link to an article
4. DescriptionWhy do you find this article interesting?
5. Send me a copy
6. Enter code

 

cforms contact form by delicious:days

More recent stories

What drives Daily Telegraph, El Pais, Le Monde and New York Times to Krakow?

80+ delegates from 35 different European newsmedia companies have already registered to the INMA/OPA Europe Conference in Krakow, Poland (Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2010). Among those who took advantage of the first deadline for early bird rates and registered... 

Newspaper challenged by an amateur blogger

Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza believes it helps to build an open society by providing platforms for debates and inspiring readers concerned with a common good. Sometimes readers take an opportunity and start competing with their own newspaper. That morning... 

Ad campaigns: how newspapers go beyond print

A new branding ad campaign of Poland’s newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza shows it is no longer a paper only. It’s a website, a mobile app. It’s a news-multi-medium. Gazeta is the best read quality daily in Poland, a country that is a host of... 

The mobile future of newspapers

Newspapers have been looking for the Holy Graal for a long time. Finally, a new breed of mobile reading devices makes some publishers believe they are the future. Let’s have a look beyond the hype about iPads. Here’s an overview of the latest... 

INMA launches the Non-Traditional Advertising Awards Competition

Finally! A great competition for all dealing with advertising,  publishers, agencies and media houses in either print or online (or both). International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA) supported by two Polish media associations: Zwiazek Kontroli... 

Montgomery among speakers during the INMA/OPA Europe Conference

Another great INMA event is coming! On September 29th, the INMA/OPA Europe Conference will be organized in Kraków, Poland. Many speakers already confirmed their attendence with David Montgomery, CEO of Mecom Group among them.The programme of this year’s... 

Polish weekly “Polityka” comes out with a 3-D cover

5 days before the presidential election, the Polish weekly “Polityka” comes out with a three dimensional cover. Depending on the angle, readers can see one of two main presidential canditates in Poland. Thanks to the special foil with lenses,...