Defunct Anti-Trump Leftists Magazine, Newsweek, Has Staff Threatening to Resign after the Owner Tried to Silence an Investigation

Several Newsweek staffers threatened to resign earlier this week, accusing the company of attempting to muzzle the publishing of a story further detailing internal turmoil at the magazine and ties to a controversial Christian college.



On Tuesday evening, Newsweek published a story about previously unreported ties between Newsweek Media Group (which also owns International Business Times) and Olivet University’s efforts to develop a campus in upstate New York. Olivet, which is affiliated with a mysterious religious sect called “The Community,” has numerous connections to former leaders of NMG.



But not before several reporters and editors made it clear to management that they would quit if Newsweek did not publish the story.



The team of journalists including Newsweek deputy editor Ross Schneiderman, news director Cristina Silva, politics editor Michael J. Mishak, and IBT reporters Josh Keefe and Josh Saul mulled resigning in protest on Tuesday if the article was not published.



“Newsweek Media Group has made it clear it will not allow us to publish a credible, independent story about the company’s financial ties to Olivet University—even though our reporting shows the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is scrutinizing those ties as part of a long-term fraud probe,” the protesting journalists said in a letter drafted—but never sent—to management, reviewed by The Daily Beast. “For this reason, we are immediately resigning from the company.”



According to one source directly involved in the process, the editors informed acting Newsweek editor Nancy Cooper of the group‘s intention to quit.



The group had been preparing a story for weeks, and met significant headwinds from the company's management.



“Newsweek Media Group has made it clear it will not allow us to publish a credible, independent story about the company’s financial ties to Olivet University.”