The demise of the New Republic, a small-circulation weekly magazine with potent political influence far greater than its reach, is emblematic of publishing reality in the age of the internet.  It also represents a case study of how close Soviet communists infiltrated American public opinion. The reliably liberal Democrat mouthpiece, founded in 1914 by Whitney family money and columnist and Washington Mandarin Walter Lippmann  (advertised since the JFK presidency as “the in-flight magazine for Air Force One”) was recently purchased from former Harvard professor Martin Peretz, who bought the magazine in 1974.  Peretz was accused of racism against Arabs for his strong backing of Israel and other positions that irritated one faction or the other in the Democratic Party.  He sold out in 2012 to high-tech billionaire Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook.  Uncomfortable owning a company with unruly and independent-minded writer types, Hughes first...(Read Full Post)