There are a couple of political magazines older than the New Republic—The Nation has been published continuously since the Civil War, while The Atlantic began even before, in 1857. But since the New Republic was founded in 1914, edited by Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann, it has been considered the voice of American liberalism. Along the way, it has courted controversy, particularly on foreign policy, but on domestic politics as well. There’s no easier way to start an argument among journalistic cognoscenti than to ask whether the New Republic is really liberal anymore, or how much influence it retains. Progressive bloggers pillory TNR as “the Joe Lieberman” of magazines, and, indeed, the magazine endorsed Lieberman’s 2004 presidential run. Many love TNR, and many others hate it– while yet others feel both ways about it at the same time.
The privilege of losing money
The much-distputed "standard bearer of the Left," The New Republic, is close to owner change of ownership—or its demise.