Navasky Emigrates from 'Nation'
There are several notable facts in a "Media Talk" blurb on The Nation in today's Times. First is the peg, that liberal lion Victor Navasky, who has been the magazine's publisher since he led the group of investors who bought it from Observer moneybags Arthur Carter in 1995, is stepping aside in favor of its editor, Katrina vanden Heuvel. Next is what Navasky will be focusing on instead: "his other job, as chairman of The Columbia Journalism Review," a fact that will make rightie press-crit sorts even more dyspeptic than usual. Then there's a notable financial reality, the magazine's current and unprecedented status as profitable, which, boosted by its oppositional prominence in the Bush years, it has been since 2003. Finally, and perhaps most interesting, is this: Even in light of that last fact, Navasky's beloved chestnut — "What's bad for the country is good for The Nation," quoted repeatedly as though it's new and fresh — makes no appearance at all.
We kind of miss it.
