From the Publisher

By Elizabeth Valk Long

There have been some fundamental changes throughout our magazine over the past several years, culminating 13 months ago in a new organization of the news on our pages. One feature of the change was a new section, The Week, which summarizes events of the preceding week with brief accounts, graphics and commentaries. It instantly became one of the magazine's most popular parts. This week, in a less dramatic way, we're still in the change business, giving The Week a different look and bright new features. While maintaining its summarizing function, The Week will also absorb the exclusives, inside intelligence and trend-spotting items from the Grapevine page.

More intriguing than the alterations, perhaps, is the man carrying them out. One of managing editor Jim Gaines' first steps after taking over TIME last February was hiring benign-looking Kurt Andersen, 38, editor of Spy magazine. If you haven't heard, Spy is the quintessence of witty and savage satire. It has not spared our proprietor, Time Warner, nor most other major American institutions. Have we unleashed a bomb thrower? Not to worry. Andersen, a man of very many talents, is a former writer in TIME's Nation section who wrote cover stores on Lee Iacocca, Jesse Helms and the death penalty. He is committed to our straight-news mission, although he promises, in the TIME tradition going back to Henry Luce, "a certain amount of sass when appropriate."

Like so many American humorists -- Benny, Carson, Letterman, Keillor -- Andersen was born in the nation's midsection, Omaha to be precise. At Harvard he characteristically shunned the campus daily, the Crimson, in favor of the anti-Establishment Lampoon. After graduation, Kurt spent five years as a writer with NBC-TV's Today show, then wrote for TIME for five years. In 1986 , he created Spy with E. Graydon Carter. Throughout the Spy years Kurt was never a complete defector; he remained our architecture and design critic.

Why leave Spy? Andersen now wants to "spend most of my time writing." As editor at large, he will supervise The Week and continue with design pieces but devote particular attention to his new "Spectator" column. Inspired by the approach of other columnists to political subjects, Andersen seeks to cover the entertainment and culture beat with flair by blending commentary, reporting and original insights. We're very glad to have him back.