The New Republic Names Michael Caruso as CEO and Publisher

The privately held publisher The New Republic, a 109-year-old title that offers leftist political analysis and reporting, has hired Michael Caruso as its chief executive officer and publisher. Caruso begins the role Tuesday. The appointment fills a chief executive position left vacant since 2016, when owner Win McCormack purchased the title from Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes, leading to the departure of then-chief executive Guy Vidra. Caruso will take over publisher responsibilities from Kerrie Gillis. “What I want to do is make a little more noise,” Caruso said. “The New Republic is doing great work, and I want to make sure more people know how influential it is.” Caruso joins The New Republic amid a larger industry-wide pullback in advertising spend. In addition to offering a more robust experiential portfolio, he aims to trade on The New Republic’s reputation as a fixture of democratic thought leadership in order to win highly contested digital advertising budgets. As the Platforms Stumble, Some Publishers See Increased Ad Spend Before The New Republic, the new CEO completed a three-year stint at The Hill and a nearly eight-year tenure at The Smithsonian Institution, where he developed a playbook for monetizing brand equity that he hopes to replicate at The New Republic. At The Hill, where he served as editorial director, Caruso launched Changing America, a vertical whose scope of coverage extended beyond traditional political reporting into subjects such as environmental sustainability and LGBTQIA+ issues. The franchise grew to eventually drive more than one-third of all traffic to The Hill, according to Caruso. At The Smithsonian, as vice president and editor-in-chief, Caruso developed two major franchises: The Smithsonian Ingenuity Festival and Future Con. Both attracted a mix of celebrities and industry specialists to their roster of annual activations, serving as lucrative sponsorship opportunities for the museum in the process. Caruso envisions a similar strategy of brand extensions for The New Republic, with a particular focus on expanding its events portfolio. He hopes to take greater advantage of the relationships The New Republic has cultivated with influential politicians, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, to entice potential attendees. Caruso also aims to increase the presence of the publisher, which is based in Washington, D.C., in cultural hubs like New York and Los Angeles. In addition, he hopes to bolster digital subscription efforts by offering discounted pricing tiers to students and union members, among other measures. “It is definitely a tough environment, but The New Republic has a few advantages, including devout readers in the White House administration and members of Congress,” Caruso said. “It is a must-read for thought leaders, and thought leadership is a resilient category.”

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The New Republic Names Michael Caruso as New CEO and Publisher

Caruso aims to expand its events portfolio and experiment with new editorial franchises

Mark Stenberg

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Mark Stenberg