Memo Got Remnick New Yorker Job, He Says
The way David Remnick became editor of The New Yorker is well-documented. A few weeks after Tina Brown had unexpectedly quit, S.I. Newhouse offered Michael Kinsley the job, then quickly withdrew his offer and gave it to Mr. Remnick.
Recently, Mr. Remnick gave a speech at his alma mater, Princeton, and offered a tiny anecdote about how he won perhaps the most coveted job in magazine journalism. The Daily Princetonian reports:
Recalling his rise to his current post, Remnick said he was "anointed by mistake." One weekend, he volunteered to write a memo on how to improve the magazine, and since the editor-in-chief position was empty at the time, his suggestions launched him into the job.
Maybe S.I. Newhouse saw the memo a day after he offered Mr. Kinsley the job?
That's B.S.
Newhouse withdrew the offer to Kinsley after Kinsley disclosed he had Parkinson's. Nothing against David Remnick., but that ugly moment in New Yorker history has been written about before and shouldn't be whitewashed now.
The job was offered to Graydon Carter and then James Truman was to take over Vanity Fair. It wouldn't work because Graydon like 1 week of vacation a month, and 1 month/ year and the New Yorker is a weekly.