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- <text id=89TT1241>
- <title>
- May 08, 1989: From The Publisher
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- May 08, 1989 Fusion Or Illusion?
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- FROM THE PUBLISHER, Page 4
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Vitali Ignatenko vividly remembers the day four years ago
- when the lives of Soviet journalists changed dramatically. Soon
- after taking office, Mikhail Gorbachev displayed his new style
- by delivering a speech live on Soviet television. "We realized
- that we had reached a new period," Ignatenko recalls. "It was
- the first step into the era of glasnost."
- </p>
- <p> As editor in chief of the Soviet foreign affairs weekly New
- Times, Ignatenko, 48, has since taken many steps into that new
- era. Three months ago, for example, the magazine (circ.
- 600,000) published the first Soviet press interview ever with
- Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.
- </p>
- <p> Last fall World editor Jim Kelly spent two weeks in the
- Soviet Union as a guest of New Times. We recently reciprocated
- by inviting Ignatenko to visit TIME's U.S. operation. As it
- turned out, we asked him nearly as many questions about his job
- as he asked about how an American newsmagazine is put together.
- We learned, for example, that Ignatenko has a telephone in his
- office that connects him directly to top officials -- and vice
- versa. "Gorbachev personally hasn't phoned me," Ignatenko says,
- "but he knows all the editors on a first-name basis and meets
- with us regularly."
- </p>
- <p> Ignatenko was especially intrigued by TIME's design, and
- consulted with graphics editor Nigel Holmes about sharpening
- the look of New Times. Ignatenko took particular interest in
- TIME's meticulous efforts to check facts. "With glasnost,
- Soviet journalists now have even more responsibility to be
- accurate," he explains. "Let's say we write something that is
- incorrect about one of the nationalities in the republics. That
- could cause a serious disturbance."
- </p>
- <p> Ignatenko spent four days in Miami with bureau chief James
- Carney, who speaks Russian. He met Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez,
- toured the building of the Miami Herald -- and squeezed in a
- few hours on the beach. We urged him to stay longer, but he had
- to fly home to Moscow to prepare for another trip. His
- destination: Beijing, where he arrives this week to plan
- coverage of the Sino-Soviet summit.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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