Timed Out

By Scott Horton

Industry experts are known to be skeptical about the viability of the newsweekly in the current rapidly changing media market. However, it does come as something of a surprise to see the case against the newsweekly made so convincingly by Richard Stengel, Time's managing editor. In an appearance on MSNBC's Chris Matthews ahow, Stengel pooh-poohed coverage of the current lead Washington story: the scandal over the dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys. "I am so uninterested in the Democrats wanting Karl Rove because it is so bad for them," he said, calling the entire exercise "small bore politics." (YouTube here.)

Stengel's vacuous, giggly comments suggested a strangely personal attitude towards news. But they have been carried forward in editorial judgments in Time. The current issue is out. Whereas the Department of Justice has now distanced itself from earlier denials of Rove's role in the entire affair, and Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff has directly challenged the accuracy of his boss's statements about his involvement, Time readers will learn none of this. The magazine is completely bereft of discussion of the subject. Could that be because the suppressed story proves Stengel wrong on nearly every assertion he made? This follows an issue in which Stengel decided that the burning cover issue for the week was "The Case for Teaching the Bible." In its non-U.S. editions, Time had featured a cover story on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. Stengel apparently considered that topic far too sensitive for his home audience. In any event, Stengel's editorial remedy is increasingly apparent—he will battle for Time's survival by removing news from the erstwhile newsweekly.