The Washington Post announced on Monday an agreement to sell Newsweek, its 77-year-old money-losing magazine, to Sidney Harman, a 91-year-old audio equipment tycoon. Jon Meacham, Newsweek’s editor, concurrently announced that he will leave the magazine after a new editor is named.
Below, a shortlist of possible Meacham replacements, and the odds – completely and utterly subjective – they’ll be hired.
Walter Isaacson
Résumé: President and CEO, Aspen Institute; former editor, Time magazine
Rationale: Isaacson, former Time magazine editor, CNN chief and current president of the Aspen Institute -- where Harman is a board member -- should be, on paper, the favorite to at least get an offer. The question is, would Isaacson even want to return to the magazine industry? “I read magazine content online,” Isaacson said during a panel at the Magazine Innovation Summit in 2009. “I don’t feel the need to subscribe to them.”
Odds: Even
Fareed Zakaria
Résumé: Editor, Newsweek International and CNN host
Rationale: If Harman opts to replace Meacham from within, Zakaria -- Newsweek international editor who is seen by some as Meacham’s no. 2 -- would be the top choice. It will be interesting to see if Zakaria opts to stay at Newsweek, or goes his own way before a Meacham replacement is chosen.
Odds: 5 to 1
Jacob Weisberg
Résumé: Editor, Slate Group
Rationale: As editor of the Washington Post-owned Slate, Weisberg would be my personal choice. If you think about it, Slate is sort of what Newsweek is trying to become – a timely "thought leader" not necessarily shackled to the 24-7 news cycle. And Weisberg is no stranger to the magazine world, having served on numerous industry panels and Magazine Publishers of America committees. Not only that – his wife, Deborah Needleman, founding editor of Condé Nast’s Domino, is the newly-minted EIC for WSJ., the Wall Street Journal glossy. Problem is, Newsweek is essentially in print, and headed in the opposite direction. Besides, I’d imagine WaPo Co. chief Don Graham would make it pretty difficult on anyone to jump ship now.
Odds: 10 to 1
Arianna Huffington
Résumé: Founder, Huffington Post
Rationale: Huffington would be a great choice – and voice – for a magazine that's already been accused of having a liberal bent. That is, if she wasn’t already busy building what she sees as her “Internet newspaper.” And, for whatever reason, Huffington has always struck me as a print person. Nonetheless, she’s a longshot fit here.
Odds: 25 to 1
Someone From The Economist
Rationale: Newsweek modeled its reinvention and redesign after the Economist, one of the few newsweeklies to buck the category’s downward spiral. So it would make sense for Newsweek to go after talent from a magazine Meacham is reportedly "infatuated" with. Perhaps the money Harman saved on buying the magazine (the debt-assuming deal is said to be similar to TV Guide’s $1 sale to OpenGate Capital in 2008) he can spend luring U.K.
