Canada's CanWest Global Communications is revamping The New Republic, the New York-based magazine of political thought, after taking a majority stake.

CanWest, based in Winnipeg, plans to change the publishing schedule of the weekly to every two weeks but will almost double the size of the 93-year-old magazine.

The New Republic has lost readers to the internet and been hurt by what some readers see as an insufficiently progressive stance against the Bush administration.

The redesigned magazine, to debut March 19, will be printed on heavier stock, with original photographs, cartoons and other graphic elements, a significant change from its usual bare-bones look.

CanWest also plans to overhaul the magazine's website, which has attracted new readers with its opinion blogs. CanWest previously owned a minority stake in the magazine.

Editor Franklin Foer told the New York Times the magazine is cementing a "centre-left" philosophy.

Until recently the magazine had been socially progressive but taken a neo-con approach to some issues, including a hawkish stance on the Iraq war.

Circulation worries

While some liberal U.S. publications saw a rebound in circulation after the election of a Democrat majority in Congress, The New Republic, with circulation of about 60,000, did not rebound.

CanWest also owns Global Television, Alliance Atlantis film and the CanWest newspaper chain that includes the National Post.

CanWest is controlled by the Asper family, which is well known for its support of the Liberals in Canada and of various political causes in Israel.

The magazine's editor in chief, Martin Peretz, said he hoped the takeover would secure The New Republic's financial future.

"It just seemed to me, given my own intellectual and moral synergies with Leonard J. Asper, a very good partnership," he said.