In a day of major restructuring, Time Warner Inc.'s Norman
Pearlstine announced that Bill Colson has been named Managing
Editor of Sports Illustrated. Colson has been Assistant Managing
Editor at SI since the summer of '91. He succeeds Mark Mulvoy,
who will become Editor of SI and have top editorial
responsibility for all Olympic projects outside the weekly SI
Presents and SI For Kids. Pearlstine said Colson, through his
stint as Assistant Managing Editor and during his recent three-
month period when he ran the magazine, "has demonstrated a keen
instinct and an innate ability to consistently have SI deliver
sports journalism weekly to readers in a fresh, lively and
informative way." Among other changes: Walter Isaacson will
become Time magazine's managing editor replacing Jim Gaines, who
has been named Corporate Editor of Time Inc. Paul Sagan was
named President and Editor of Time New Media (Time Inc).
NEW REIGN: The changes mark Pearlstine's "most ambitious
effort yet to consolidate his control over Time-Warner Inc.'s
far-flung publishing operations and install his own hand-picked
team," according to Patrick Reilly of the WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Both Colson and Isaacson "aren't considered likely to bring
radical change ... but they face stiff challenges" as both
magazines have seen "gradual declines in circulation and are
fighting to stay relevant amid a blitz of new competition" from
TV and the internet (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/17). The
announcement of Colson completed the "bake-off" competition with
Life Managing Editor Daniel Okrent, in which each served a three-
month trial period that culminated with "oral exams" on October
31 with Pearlstine and Time Inc.'s Editorial Director Henry
Muller (N.Y. TIMES, 11/17). Magazine industry analyst Tom
Delaney said Time was "lucky serious damage wasn't done" to SI
with the editorial competition. Delaney: "A magazine is supposed
to have a clear vision -- you can't have two people grabbing the
wheel" (N.Y. POST, 11/17).
