From the Managing Editor

By Henry Muller

TIME is read not only in the U.S. but also by millions of people overseas. So, how does one adapt a quintessentially American newsmagazine for the rest of the world? The process is both Herculean and alchemical, involving such minutiae as the transmutation of impenetrable Americanisms and the replacement of American measures with metric, as well as the production of entire sections and cover stories that speak specifically to Asia, Europe, Latin America, Canada and Australia.

Each week a staff of 32 based in New York City works with our 19 bureaus around the world to shape stories, cull pictures and lay out the pages for the fraternal twin of the U.S. edition. With a circulation of 1.5 million, TIME International produced 1,500 pages on its own last year, including 37 cover stories. It has, in short, become a magazine in its own right -- and as such it needs the editorial organization that will ensure its further growth and vitality. Effective this week, Karsten Prager becomes managing editor of TIME International, and his deputy, Joe Ferrer, assistant managing editor.

Born in the East Prussian capital of Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad in the Soviet Union), Prager went to the U.S. as a student before embarking on a journalistic career that included long stints in Southeast Asia, where he covered the Vietnam War, and in the Middle East, where he was one of the first Western journalists, in 1975, to interview Saddam Hussein.

Ferrer joined TIME in 1963 and soon earned a reputation as one of the magazine's masters of editing. It is a talent he has shared generously over the years, leading many a neophyte writer through the intricacies and nuances of his craft. Says one writer: "Even when you think there isn't room to improve a story, Joe can make it better." Since overseeing TIME's coverage of the 1988 Olympics, Ferrer has worked closely with Prager in nurturing TIME International's growth as well as managing the complex logistics of 10 different editions each week.

"It's been a long and erratic evolution since TIME Europe first came out in 1973," says Prager. "But the process does not stand still. We want to make this magazine as international as possible without losing sight of the fact that it is by birth an American creation." With Prager and Ferrer at the helm, TIME International will assuredly not stand still.