Categories: OLD Media Moves

Forbes and the boomerang journalists

Lewis Dvorkin, the chief product officer at Forbes, writes about the “boomerang” journalists who have overseen its 100th centennial edition, which is out Tuesday.

Dvorkin writes, “This issue, a year in the making, is classic Forbes — the hard-charging veteran journalist working hand in hand with an up-and-coming generation of hard-charging journalists. It was the brainchild of Randall Lane, the magazine’s editor, who himself learned at the feet of Jim Michaels, an industry legend who edited this magazine for four decades. Randall is what we call a ‘boomerang,’ meaning it’s his second time around at Forbes. Michael Noer, our executive editor and a boomerang, too, was as integral to bringing these pages to life. Both are in great company. Many of our journalists and salespeople ventured out into the world to do new things, only to return home to be with those who could never bring themselves to leave Forbes in the first place.

“B.C. Forbes founded this great company as a business journalist himself. He got here from Scotland via South Africa and, as the story goes, worked at one newspaper under his real name and another under a pseudonym. He was both crafty and ambitious, traits at the core of every individual who embraces our mission — entrepreneurial capitalism. Malcolm Forbes, B.C.’s son, turned Forbes into the household name that it is today. And his sons artfully guided the company through the ups and down of digital transformation that tripped up much larger media companies.

“As a journalist-turned-entrepreneur and boomerang myself, I think a lot more about the journalism profession these days. In a world in which “fake news” is the rallying cry for information that doesn’t suit one’s worldview, it’s imperative for our editors and reporters to do what they do best–dig up the facts and provide context and perspective for audiences young and old working their way through life’s complexities.”