As leader of what's left of the liberal media, the New York Times is serving as support group facilitator for writers/contributors and former staffers of The New Republic, who are outraged by the effort of new owner Chris Hughes to make the magazine both profitable and relevant for today's Internet age. How dare him!

the new republicThe Times has given ample (way too much?) space for TNRers to vent their outrage. They apparently view themselves as journalistic purists who are bent on engaging with readers in rarified discussions of the weighty political, cultural and philosophical issues of these troubled times. Those writers are advocating on behalf of an editorial business model that has long gone. The old TNR is dead. TNRers need a new model.

There was a time (twenty-five or 30 years ago) when TNR's position of being a small progressive opinion journal with subscribers in the intellectual liberal tea parlors of Boston, New York and Washington made perfect sense. That audience base had an influence that was way greater in proportion to their small numbers.

Times have changed. The New York Times is undergoing its own painful transition to the digital world. It is casting aside 100 of its top writers in favor of developing digital apps for such "important" categories as food and real estate.

Was the TNR staff really that naïve to think millionaire Hughes who took over two years ago was going to allow the magazine to stumble on in its losing money ways? Hughes was not exactly a journalistic heavyweight. He made his pile by cashing out of Facebook. Hughes must bless the gods each day for his good fortune to be Harvard roommate of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Chris handled Facebook's communications, while Mark focused on coding. The rest is history.

Hughes wants to re-imagine TNR for the digital age. (In a delicious bit of irony, TNRers have resorted to social media to express umbrage with Hughes' plans.) TNR's heritage of long and meaty articles doesn't fit the Internet's demand for quick and numerous news nuggets. In his call for "snackable content," Hughes has acknowledged TNR's history of serving full-course meals to discerning diners doesn't digest well online. Following the exodus of 50 staffers, he has a clean slate to work with.

Good luck to the TNR crowd. I used to enjoy reading the magazine in the pre-Internet days.

I also used to enjoy reading business-oriented Portfolio, which was bankrolled by Conde Nast. Portfolio showcased the best journalism and essays by the likes of Tom Wolfe and Michael Lewis. It had only a nearly two-year run before advertisers abandoned it during the global financial meltdown.

TNR, which at the moment plans to publish eight times a year, recently celebrated its 100th birthday.

The New Republic is dead. Long live the new New Republic.