Media Guardian columnist Peter Wilby considered the fate of the New Statesman, after the departure of editor John Kampfner last week.
Former NS editor Wilby said that the magazine’s owner Geoffrey Robinson, was “enraged by mounting financial losses for, as he saw it, inadequate gains for sales”. Kampfner was said to be “equally enraged” when Robinson then cut the marketing budget “to almost zero”.
“Whether Kampfner was sacked or walked is unclear, but by the end, the two were heartily glad to be rid of each other,” concluded Wilby.
Wilby assesses the problems and possible soultions for the NS. Its problems, he said were partly that of any small independent paper. But he said the paper had “an identity problem that reflects an identity preoblem on the British (and perhaps worldwide ) left.
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Candidates for the NS editorship included the acting editor Sue Matthias and the Independent’s political columnist Steve Richards, said Wilby.
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