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Article clipped from The San Francisco Examiner

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In the last nine months, while Time Keeps Marching On ries Time on has pop published culture seven or the cover arts, stoNewsweek has published only three - on actress Meryl Streep, television. Continued from Page 3 ner's continued emphasis on pop cul- TIME personality Phil Donahue and violinist ture, on the cover and elsewhere in Itzhak Perlman. slide; Time, under Grunwald, con- the magazine, trivialized Newsweek tinued to climb. "I just know that if Ed were still made it too superficial, too trendy, erratic. here, we would've done Bo Derek," too All this may seem to place too says Mel Elfin, Newsweek's longtime great an emphasis on the man at the Apparently, some Newsweek read- Washington bureau chief. top. But unlike a big newspaper, ers agreed: From 1976 to 1979, News- Instead, when the Consumer. Price where the top editor usually only sees. week's newsstand sales declined 22 the truly major stories before publica- percent. Index jumped to an 18 percent annual inflation rate in late February, Newstion, the top editor at a newsmagazine week before- Historically, Newsweek had al- immediately switched covers on sees and approves everything hand cover, story, most, always trailed Time in news- a Friday morning and put inflation - every every stand sales - a small part of total on the cover, three weeks ahead of every layout, every picture, every circulation but a good barometer of - Baring Time. headline, every single one of the how a magazine is doing but by the gimmicky . fun to read without 50,000 or so words that are published end of 1976, Newsweek had closed the being frivolous" - all "code words," Newsweek has benefitted greatly each week. 48 he subsequently conceded, for what from the present news climate of Once it became clear, in mid-1975, of gap the considerably, market. Then, winning in less percent than he saw as the shortcomings of the Iran, Afghanistan, energy, the econoKosner regime. my and the presidential election cam-: that Elliott no longer had that all- zine, in stark contrast to Grunwald's three years, Newsweek slipped to drive at Newsweek, Ka- at Time, proved disastrous. Expensive, about 41 percent, sometimes under 40 So how does Bernstein to some paign, but critics think Bernconsuming propose stein's singlemindedness about breaktharine Graham, chairman of the unworkable and unattractive, it had percent. distinguish Newsweek from Time and board of the parent Washington Post to be scrapped. Newsweek, help Newsweek regain prestige and ing news stories has both thrown' Co., replaced him with his No. 2 man, clearly, was losing mo- vitality? Judging by his first ten Newsweek out of balance and subjectKosner, by all accounts, was mentum, and many attributed it to ed it to the whim of whatever is Edward Kosner. reluctant to delegate even the least Kosner's emphasis on pop culture. months, the answer is two-fold: by happening every Friday morning, Kosner was young (37) and aggres- bit of authority. getting good eyewitness reporting sive, and he had been instrumental in On June 18, 1979 - while Time into the magazine and by staying on In trying to move quickly, Newshelping Newsweek after hav- Watergate was doing a cover story on the visit of top of the news. week now risks being premature had made the newsrecoup magazines more news conscious than Pope John. Paul II to his native Newsweek has or just plain wrong - in its choice of ing consistently beaten by ever before. It had been a weekly Poland - Newsweek put horror mov- long been a more cover stories. Even some former been Time early Watergate coverage. boon to them. But in the immediate ies on the cover. Kosner was fired. personal magazine than Time using Newsweek staffers say the in its - individual columns, for example, rath- "missed the boat" in not magazine aftermath of Watergate, says NewsNewsweek ultimately did 36 Wat- Editor Kenneth doing cover - including one week Managing Au- Kosner, now the editor of New er than formal essays - and nowhere stories - as Time recently did .on Nixon chincloss, "We were all looking for- York magazine, concedes that he was is this more evident than in its use of ergate cover stories a few days before Richard M. Dan Rather and on the FBI's Abscam resigned the presidency that pre- new things to write about." People "very that "some peo- its own reporters' bylined work. operation. demanding." sciently pictured Nixon against magazine was becoming popular then pie's sensibilities were not properly and the culture. - movies, TV, attended to" and that he may have Newsweek seems to speak with a Worse, in mid-February, Newsclock and the legend "The Eleventh music, gossip pop - began to attract a been responsible for "a tacky cover or greater diversity of voices than Time, week editors thought a breakthrough Hour." Time's cover that week: actor great deal of attention. two." which for all its improvement in was imminent in negotiations for the Jack Nicholson. this area - retains a more collective, release of the American hostages in With Kosner as editor, Newsweek Suddenly Newsweek, which had But Kosner can be a charming, at times almost corporate voice. Iran. They prepared a cover story: "A often beat Time on major news sto- generally Time's cultured man, and he resents being Time has traditionally been an Break in the Deadlock?" At the last averaged about five enterries on the People's Temple mass tainment covers a year (to characterized as an ill-tempered ty- editor's and writer's' magazine; its minute, they decided their reporter's murders - and suicides in Jonestown, four) began averaging eight (to Time's rant who presided over Newsweek's and editing still information was SO reliable, writing are generally they for example, and on President Ford's four). Newsweek did cover stories on decline into triviality. Newsweek dropped the question mark. television series and better than Newsweek's. 1976 cabinet upheaval. stars such as Louise Lasser, Donna Nevertheless, there was wide- has traditionally been more a report- There was, of course, no breakdisco, gossip, Newsweek also continued to do a Summer, Sylvester Stallone, John Be- spread unhappiness during Kosner's er's magazine - or as much a report- through. better job on most social trends and lushi, Steve Martin final at the magazine, and er's magazine as group Other, similar examples have months the journalism issues, with cover stories on living when 59-year-old Lester Bernstein process permits. prompted Time Managing Editor Ray together, gay rights, keeping fit, illit- "One day, was to replace him, Bernstein's Newsweek's generally closer rela- Cave to suggest that Newsweek, in Ed saw a picture of hired an family, the Jacqueline Bissett in a T-shirt, the and the mandate was clear: restore calm to tionship with its reporters may help effort to recoup the prestige it lost in eracy, and next week, she was on cover," the evangelicals, the graying of America the changing respectability to the explain the magazine's ability to react recent years, is overreacting by staff and role and responsibility of the Ameri- says one magazine. more quickly to breaking news sto- "doing news stories before they hapNewsweek editor. "Jackie Bissett on the cover? Christ, even her can male. it." He also had the magazine rede- ries, and Bernstein - mindful of the pen." own studio couldn't believe But there were problems at News- signed again and spelled out for the charges that his predecessor "trivial- So far this year, Time has reweek. Although both Time and News- staff his editorial objective: to make ized" Newsweek - has concentrated tained its 1979 edge of almost 60 Big week had long done occasional problems: pop Newsweek "lively without seeming on breaking news stories for News- percent-40 percent in newsstand sales, Kosner's redesign of the maga- culture cover stories, critics said Kos- jittery ... inventive without being week's cover. sometimes even topping 60 percent.
Article from 25 May 1980The San Francisco Examiner(San Francisco, CA)
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