[tptacek]

I think you've misquoted Vidra:

The friction escalated with the arrival of Vidra, who is said to have complained to Foer that the magazine was boring and that he couldn’t bring himself to read past the first 500 words of an article.

The more likely meaning here is that Vidra couldn't read more than 500 words of a boring TNR article.

[anigbrowl]

Thanks for the correction - I typed that in a hurry and you're quite right that he was making a comment about the journalism at TNR rather than articles in general. All the same, I don't think it speaks well of him to make such a comment to a staff that specializes in long-form journalism.

[001sky]

This is a good clarification. The other issue is that Vidra's previous employer was Yahoo (Head of Yahoo News). This may have limited his ability to read beyond 500 words, too, who knows.

[zafka]

That is especially scary. Several years back, I could get decent news from yahoo, and they had a balanced group of opinion writers....., then poof! After reading this article I am guessing Vidra might have orchestrated that change too.

[ScottBurson]

It was clear to me that's what was meant -- and I think it's a very disturbing quote.

I won't be renewing my TNR subscription.