A changing of the guard

A note of appreciation for Tim Lamer, who following this issue returns to WORLD Commentary. Tim took on the interim editor role at WORLD Magazine about six months ago, stepping away—temporarily, he was quick to add—from a role he loved in order to return to the magazine editor seat he left a few years ago. He thought of his role as that of a steward, and in that way, he provided steady, reliable leadership. Immediately, he made quite a few practical improvements to the magazine, even while he set the stage for new editorial leadership to make bigger improvements.

This is Tim’s last issue of WORLD Magazine as interim editor, if the Lord allows our plans to go forward as we expect, and the new editorial leadership team is ready to take over with the next issue. That team, led by Lynn Vincent and Daniel James Devine, will introduce more visible changes with the next issue, and I’d like to share a few of them with you now.

First, Lynn and Daniel intend to bring more deeply reported stories to the pages of the magazine—leaving the daily updates to our Digital and Radio platforms. To find room for such stories, for example, we will devote less space to opinions (fewer Voices columns) and the table of contents, and we will consolidate Quotables and Cartoons into a single page. They’re also making my CEO Notes space a little smaller. I doubt we’ll be getting any complaints about that change.

Second, we’ll devote space to review more books, and—as readers have asked—allow reviewers to go into greater depth.

Third, we’ll continue to review movies, but we’ll include more reviews of programming on the many video streaming services, and we’ll begin reviewing podcasts more deliberately.

Fourth, Lynn and Daniel have created a few new departments that will expand our global reporting and explanatory journalism.

Fifth, accompanying these content changes are some welcome design changes. David Freeland, our art director, has taken steps to make everything more readable. Those steps include using larger type and clearer fonts in the whole magazine and getting rid of some of the clutter that has accumulated since our previous redesign.

There’s more, but even with the space I’m currently allowed I don’t have room to describe it all.

For now, join me in thanking the Lord for Tim Lamer’s faithful service and for this issue, and be on the lookout for the next, when you will be able to see all of these updates for yourself.