A VITAL part of TIME journalism is the dialogue between writers and editors in New York and reporters in the field. The New York end of the dialogue consists of queries that may be a simple question asking, in effect, "What happened?" Most of the time, however, what happened is already fairly clear in broad terms, and what the editors want is details, consequences, overall meaning.

When it was decided three weeks ago that the political phenomenon of Robert Kennedy was becoming important enough to be dealt with at cover length, Writer Ronald Kriss drafted a musing, searching, 1,000-word query to the Washington Bureau, which tells much about how TIME functions. He tentatively outlined the elements of the cover story as he and the editors saw them, asked the Washington bureau (and several others) to come ahead with their own appraisals and those of their sources. Kriss suggested five major areas to be explored: the Kennedy mystique, Kennedy as campaigner, Kennedy the strategist, the Kennedy apparatus, Kennedy's political future.

"Of all the sections," wrote Kriss, "the first may prove toughest to nail down. What is it beyond the Kennedy cult that nourishes his popularity? He seems to have made a goodly number of blunders; yet none of them have hurt his standing in the polls. Is his popularity increasing in spite of himself--or because of himself?"

Half a dozen bureaus contributed to the story, which was edited by Michael Demarest and researched by Raissa Silverman. The principal file came from Washington's Neil MacNeil, who has been covering Capitol Hill for eleven years. In the spirit of dialogue, the principal reports evoked further questions and requests for clarification.

Kriss's query to Washington was but one of about 450 that went by Teletype or telephone to bureaus and reporters throughout the world last week. They ranged from Nation and Business inquiries about the economic situation to an Education request for a full report on a revolutionary computer teaching aid being developed in East Palo Alto.

In an average week, our queries evoke a response of more than 700,000 words. The writers and editors in New York select the best and freshest of this material--much of which first sees print in TIME--combining it with their own information and judgment to tell the story of the world's week.

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