46. Journalism and Politics in an Age of Disruption: A Conversation with Bob Cohn

In 2009, at a time when The Atlantic was a 152 year old publication known chiefly for its erudite monthly magazine, Bob Cohn joined as Editor of Atlantic Digital. A career journalist, he arrived at The Atlantic five years into a fifteen year wave of disruption that shuttered the doors of some 1,800 local newspapers across the United States. Under Bob’s leadership, digital publishing thrived at The Atlantic, and he was named Co-President & COO in 2013 and President in 2016. Bob is hosted on this podcast episode by Derek van Bever, Director of The Forum for Growth & Innovation, and it was recorded in late November of 2019, while Bob was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he taught a semester long series called “Journalism and Politics in an Age of Disruption.” Bob and Derek discuss the structure of the media industry and the fallout of disruption over the last 20 years, the circumstances which enabled The Atlantic to transition from a print monthly to a digital daily, and habits for responsible media consumption. Bob stepped down from his presidency at The Atlantic in 2019 and has just been named President/Managing Director of The Economist.