Media

Columbia Journalism Review: Is Victor Navasky Running the Show?

David M at his blog asks the question: Is Victor Navasky, the Editor of the Left Wing Nation magazine running the Columbia Journalism Review – America’s Premier Media Monitor ?

David M seems to think so:

Imagine this scenario: A supposedly unbiased publication is being run by someone with a clear political bias, and that person is not listed on the publication’s masthead. It’s just the type of story that media watchdog Columbia Journalism Review would love to uncover.

Only in this case CJR is the perpetrator.

This blog has learned that Victor Navasky, publisher, editorial director and apparently co-owner of iconic left wing journal The Nation, is running CJR; however he is not on the masthead.

CJR’s Blog is here and no word as of this posting regarding this non-disclosure.

Paul over at Powerline has these comments:

CJR-gate?

Blogger David M reports that Victor Navasky, “publisher, editorial director and apparently co-owner of iconic left wing journal The Nation, is running the Columbia Journalism Review; however he is not on the masthead.” CJR purports to be an unbiased media watchdog publication. Yet David M’s reporting suggests that a major left-wing polemicist is calling the shots at CJR without any mention on the masthead. According to David M, the Journal’s executive editor has admitted that he answers to Navasky. And Navasky himself, while downplaying his editorial rule, appears to have acknowledged that he provides some editorial direction.

Our most direct contact with CJR occurred when it a ran piece on Rathergate which maintained that bloggers were at least as blameworthy as CBS for the whole affair. The story was called “Blog-gate.” John’s demolition of that piece is worth another look.

David M continues:

Reached by phone at his office at The Nation, Navasky confirmed for this blog that he was playing a role at CJR. He downplayed the role, stating, “I’m trying to help them out. I’m hoping to provide more editorial direction down the road, but I’m focused now on improving the finances. ” He also stated that he had been “given the dean’s green light to do what needed doing.”

Commenting on why he is not on the masthead, Navasky said it is too soon since he is still working out precisely what his role will be.

Asked if he has been providing any editorial direction to CJR, Navasky said that he feels free to provide editorial direction to anyone he wants, including the New York Times or anyone else.

Indeed, then why are you afraid to be on the masthead?

Update #1

Apparently Navasky will be on the masthead soon as Chairman and will have little or no editorial control.

The Editor and Publisher has the story about Victor Navasky’s involvement with the CJR here:

Victor Navasky, publisher and former editor of The Nation, has been working behind the scenes in a key, if uncredited, role at the Columbia Journalism Review, CJR executive editor Michael Hoyt told E&P Wednesday.

“It’s been gradual,” Hoyt told E&P. Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism (where Navasky has taught) “asked him to take a role because we have both a Web site we’re trying to develop and a magazine we’re trying to get over some financial hurdles.”

Navasky, whose name does not currently showup on the CJR masthead, told E&P today that he will appear there next issue as “chairman.”

He has been meeting with staff “on Fridays to talk business side for a few months,” Hoyt said. Hoyt told E&P that he and CJR publisher Evan Cornog report to Navasky, who in turn reports to Lemann.

As for whether having the longtime editor of a magazine with a famously political (liberal) bent involved in the administration of CJR, Hoyt said appearances might not match with reality. “It could give somebody an opportunity to make a connection, but the connection is not there,” Hoyt said. “He doesn’t push anything editorially.”

Navasky said: “I’ve made clear to the dean and everybody else that if there is any conflict with the Nation, I will recuse myself from any considerations or anything that has to do with it.

“I raised the public relations part of it with Nick when he asked me to do this,” he said, noting that some people may forget his pre-Nation history at The New York Times and elsewhere. He would not have taken the job, he said, “if I didn’t think I could do it fairly.”

Right, then why the subterfuge in the first place?

Update #2

Still no acknowledgment from the CJR Daily. Heh.

Update #3

David M has today’s follow-up on the CJR story here.