Harman’s Newsweek set to merge with Daily Beast
November 14th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Back in August, 92-year-old multimillionaire Sidney Harman bought Newsweek for $1. Sidney’s decision was hardly “a financial one,” considering Newsweek’s major losses and liabilities. Note that Sidney is the husband of the infamous Blue Dog Jane Harman who was put under FBI and Justice Department investigations after she was caught on tape negotiating with an Israeli agent about charges against AIPAC’s Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman — both indicted for spying for Israel. In August Dirk Smillie reported that Jane “would like to control Newsweek “since she has been considering leaving congress, especially if the Democrats suffer major losses during this election cycle (which they have).
She is interested in exiting Congress andNewsweek would be a perch for her to be a major player,” says the source. Harman has served in the House for 17 years. If House Democrats lose as many seats this November as polls predict, her new minority status could certainly accelerate such a decision.
Sidney will be Executive Chairman of the new company and the Daily Beast’s Tina Brown will remain as Editor-in-chief. The merger is being referred to as a “joint venture” but as a print magazine with many more years in the industry, Newsweek generates more revenue than the Daily Beast and has a significantly larger readership, giving Newsweek the upper hand. Shortly after Harman’s purchase, Fareed Zakaria (who boldly returned an award to the ADL and the $10,000 that came with it as a stand against the ADL’s displays of racism against Muslims) left his position as editor of Newsweek. Harman downplayed the loss of Zakaria, saying that ”Fareed has done us a great favor by leaving so we can start fresh.”
