The Press: Trimming Sail

In the editorial eyrie of Newsweek, on Manhattan’s 42nd Street, walls began coming down in mid-October. As workmen remodeled three little offices into one big one, staffers jittered over rumors that the masthead might be remodeled too.

Last week Malcolm Muir, editorial board chairman, announced that 20 staffers (including ten researchers, two writers, one Washington reporter) were being fired for economy and “sounder operations.” Although Newsweek (circ. 759,900) was grossing more than ever, Muir said that soaring costs had put its combined operations slightly in the red for several months of this year. On Jan. 1, it will abandon its special Pan-American edition and fly its regular edition to Latin America.

The cuts, said Muir, restored the prewar ratio of writers (now 31) to researchers (16), but left the staff larger than in 1942. As part of the general reorganization, three members of the editorial board, which had concerned itself chiefly with policy, were handed more work and desks in the remodeled office in the news room. Joseph B. Phillips, foreign affairs director, will now edit “front-of-the-book sections” (Periscope through Business); Executive Editor Chet Shaw will shift from administrative work to editing the “back of the book”; and Editorial Director Edward Barrett will take on administration, production, coordination, and what he calls “all the red tape.”