Mark Whitaker, 41, has already pulled his Newsweek
troops through one of their rougher periods - watching
the year-long demise of their popular editor Maynard
Parker, 58, who died from leukemia complications last
month.

Whitaker's appointment, announced yesterday, comes
as Newsweek is trying to close the wide gap between
itself and Time, which slug it out weekly with audited
U.S. circulations of 3.2 million and 4.1 million,
respectively.

Advertising is slipping at Newsweek, down about 5.8
percent through September, and Time's ad growth is a
weak 2.2 percent, according to trade reports.

But Whitaker says Time isn't his only rival.

We're competitive with others as well - newspapers,
TV, the Internet and all magazines, Whitaker said,
noting that his staff has scooped many other media in
its Sexgate coverage.

His counterpart at Time, Walter Isaacson, said he
welcomes Whitaker's competition.

He's a solid , serious journalist. He was the obvious
choice for the job.

Several Newsweek editors had been in the running for
the job.

Two of them were also promoted yesterday to the
new positions of co-managing editors. They are Ann
McDaniel, 42, the Washington bureau chief and chief
of correspondents, and Jon Meacham, 29, national
affairs editor. Meacham is the youngest ever to
become an M.E.

Whitaker's wife is Alexis Gelber, who's an assistant
managing editor of Newsweek's separate 1-million
circulation international editions.

Whitaker said he met and married his future wife 14
years ago when we were both lowly writers at
Newsweek. They have two children, 12 and 8.

Whitaker said he wants to increase coverage of
technology and science, personal finance, the global
economy and family issues.

He added that his biggest challenge is finding a story
mix that can appeal to 20 year-olds well as well as 60
year-olds.

His first job out of Harvard was as an intern at
Newsweek's San Francisco bureau in 1977.

-- Midknight - 11/11/98