Tina Brown, Newsweek/Daily Beast editor, has just announced that Newsweek is starting a foundation to help women and girls.

This from the DB:

We’re Launching a Foundation!
Sep 13, 2024 3:17 AM EDT
Building on the enthusiasm surrounding our groundbreaking Women in the World Summits, The Newsweek Daily Beast Co. is launching a new foundation aimed at advancing women and girls.

Remind me what this has to do with journalism again? Nothing—not with good journalism, anyway. This is a way for Brown to schmooze with powerful women and develop relationships with foundations as she prepares for Newsweek’s demise. (You think I’m cynical? Just wait a year, then we’ll talk.)

What happens if Newsweek has to report on any of the women (Hillary Clinton, Christine LaGarde) who also happen to be involved with its foundation?

…as the foundation grows, we will be able to do more than tell the vibrant stories of women in the journalism of Newsweek, [sic] and The Daily Beast and the live conversations at our summits. We will also be able to support the solutions.

Mmmm….no. The best way Newsweek can help women and girls is through thorough, professional, investigative reporting on the problems they face around the world.

Unless Brown’s secret plan is to transition Newsweek into a women-centric magazine underwritten by foundation grants, this is a bad idea. And if that is her plan, it’s also a bad idea.