Time's Two Conservative Columnists Shown the Door

Newsbusters ^ | 12/19/2007 | Matthew Sheffield

[tobyhill]

Time magazine has terminated its relationships with its two conservative columnists, Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol. The New York Observer has the details:

The exact reasons for the departures of Mr. Krauthammer and Mr. Kristol, both high-profile backers of the Iraq war, are not entirely clear.

“I was very happy to work with them,” said Mr. Krauthammer on the phone from his Washington office. “And I have a lot of things that occupy me.”

Asked if he would have preferred to stay with the magazine, Mr. Krauthammer, a Pulitzer Prize winner who writes a regular column for The Washington Post, suggested there wasn’t much of a choice. “It’s a hypothetical that didn’t arise,” he said.

The Time spokeswoman would not detail the reasons for ending the contract of Mr. Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, but said that the decision was mutual. Mr. Kristol did not return a call for comment. [...]

[lowbridge]

bump

[KarlInOhio]

It's moments like this when I wish I had a subscription to Time just so I could cancel it.

[sam_paine]

Will Britt drag the story out of them? Ping me if he does!

[Tzimisce]

....well they did it to clean up the unfair bias at their magazine.

Now they can present a completely unbiased, non partisan point of view all the time...

[Red Badger]

The Times they are a-changin’.......or possibly not.......

[sam_paine]

Just call their toll-free subscritption line everyday and waste some of their time....impossible to avoid pun.

[madison10]

Kinda goes with Time's choice for Commie Person of the Year.

Time is irrelevant.

[colorado tanker]

Not surprising. The same bunch just lauded Czar Vladimir I for his "extraordinary feat" of bringing "stability" to Russia.

To someone who's not a lefty on crack there's nothing "extraordinary" about jailing or assassinating your enemies, stuffing ballot boxes or installing a nonentity as a successor to keep the seat warm for you while you serve your term limit suspension.

[tobyhill]

It looks like the lib publications are POed at Conservatives and will stop pretending to be somewhat impartial. I can’t believe Rove works for Newsweak after the way they treated him.

[OKIEDOC]

Time, does anyone read this rag.

Any magazine that chooses a Commie for their man of the year deserves to die a slow death.

The last time I picked up a Time magazine was a couple of years ago in my liberal attorneys office.

Even then the copy I scanned was a couple of months old and just as boring and out of sync with the country and insignificant to real people in fly over country as it is today.

[reagan_fanatic]

The last time I picked up a Time magazine (in my Doctor's office a week ago) it was about half the size it used to be 10 years ago.

Keep up the good work, Time, and keep on shrinkin'.

[InterceptPoint]

The exact reasons for the departures of Mr. Krauthammer and Mr. Kristol, both high-profile backers of the Iraq war, are not entirely clear.

That's an odd statement. The reasons are clear as a bell to me.

[avacado]

Mark Helprin the former ABC Political Director and now one of the executives of Time Magazine sent this memo to his staff at ABC News durinf the 2004 election of Bush vs. Kerry.

October 8 2004:

"It goes without saying that the stakes are getting very high for the country and the campaigns - and our responsibilities become quite grave

I do not want to set off (sp?) and endless colloquy that none of us have time for today - nor do I want to stifle one. Please respond if you feel you can advance the discussion.

The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.

Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.

We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.

I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.

It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest. Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right. "

[jazusamo]

Sounds like a career enhancer for the both of them to be rid of Time.

[billbears]

Time magazine has terminated its relationships with its two conservative big government advocate warhawk columnists, Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol

There, fixed that...Support or non support of hawkish foreign policy does not define conservative. As much as Chuck, Bill, and Fox News may like to think it does.

[camerongood210]

How are the sales numbers for Time? I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess they are declining. Am I right? I wouldn’t even know where to find that kind of information. If I’m right and their numbers are falling, then they may have just shot themselves in their collective foot. The remaining conservative voices in their magazine were probably what was keeping it from sinking any faster like the NYT’s. I could be wrong though...probably am.

[andyandval]

From Forbes in August 2007...

Time's total paid and verified weekly circulation during the six months ended June 30 stood at 3.4 million, down 17.1% from 4.1 million during the same period last year following a reduction in January in the magazine's rate base. Newsweek's circulation stood at 3.1 million, virtually unchanged from a year earlier.

[Antoninus]

Time’s time is in the past.

[Crawdad]

That’s the reason they’re losing their ass: Too many conservatives.