MediaWatch: September 1990
Table of Contents:
Time's New "Nation" Editor
WHITE HOT LIBERAL
In July, Time named Jack White Senior Editor in charge of the "Nation" section. Publisher Louis Weil noted that White, a Time staffer since 1972, "was convinced by the civil rights movement in the 1960s that journalism could play a part in making America's ideals a reality." White's work reflects more than the noble cause of eliminating racism; it also reflects liberal political views.
White's biases were evident in his questions during 1984's vice presidential debate. White blasted Geraldine Ferraro from the left for supporting tuition tax credits and a ban on forced busing, views "opposed not only by your running mate but by just about every educational and civil rights organization in the country."
White's questions for George Bush continued the same theme: "Many critics of your administration say that it is the most hostile to minorities in recent memory." White declared that "many recent studies have indicated that the poor and the minorities have not really shared in the new prosperity generated by the current economic recovery. Was it right for your administration to pursue policies, economic policies, that required those at the bottom of the economic ladder to wait for prosperity to trickle down from people who are much better off than they?" How much more liberal Time's "Nation" section can become is anyone's guess.
