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- <text id=91TT2933>
- <title>
- Dec. 30, 1991: From The Managing Editor
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- Dec. 30, 1991 The Search For Mary
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR, Page 4
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Producing TIME is a little like running a marathon every
- week. For instance: it's blazing a clear trail through the
- ethical questions surrounding Patricia Bowman's decision to
- reveal her identity as William Kennedy Smith's accuser. And it's
- searching through the cheers and tears of audiences for the next
- movie hit of this holiday season. It's a physically exhausting
- but exhilarating race to keep on top of the news and issues that
- animate the world around us, and to get the results to press on
- time.
- </p>
- <p> So we're lucky to have someone like Oliver Knowlton,
- TIME's editorial operations director, to keep the pace. An avid
- runner (he logs 70 miles a week and has competed in 12
- marathons; best time: 2:30:16), Oliver is the keeper of THE
- SCHEDULE--a color-coded flow chart that tells our editors,
- writers, art directors and designers when their individual tasks
- should be complete each week. But the world of journalism has
- a funny habit of not cooperating with anybody's flow charts. As
- a result, for the past 15 months--through Desert Storm and the
- Soviet coup--it's been Oliver's responsibility to ensure that
- no matter what, the magazine gets to the printers on time.
- </p>
- <p> It's the kind of work that requires this father of two to
- be part policeman, part troubleshooter, part juggler and very
- much a diplomat. "I walk a beat," Oliver explains, "talking to
- editors, checking in with the art department, seeing where the
- snags are in the week's flow." If a late-breaking story requires
- us to work on some pages later than usual, he makes certain
- that others are finished ahead of time so the magazine closes
- on schedule.
- </p>
- <p> Oliver has shown that rare ability to stick to a schedule
- in his own life as well. After graduating from Kenyon College
- with an English major in 1980, he started working for a
- Pennsylvania company that printed many different magazines,
- including TIME. He proceeded to work his way up the paper trail
- from printer to engraver to plant operations manager, finally
- joining the editorial ranks in 1990. That kind of perseverance,
- plus the good-humored but relentless way he hounds us toward our
- deadlines each week, is one reason we somehow win the news
- marathon 52 times a year.
- </p>
- <p>-- Henry Muller
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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