A Letter From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

The editors of TIME have long appreciated the power of the screen. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the magazine's March of Time newsreels were a popular movie theater attraction. Starting in 1985, TIME has helped produce annual television programs on its Man of the Year choice. Now we are about to take a more ambitious leap into the video world by joining forces with the Public Broadcasting Service's award-winning documentary series Frontline to produce television public affairs specials. The first TIME-Frontline production will air Tuesday, May 24. Titled The Defense of Europe, the one-hour documentary will examine the changing U.S. role in the NATO alliance.

The idea originated with TIME Special Projects Head David McGowan, who last summer proposed a partnership to Frontline managers, including Executive Producer David Fanning. Both sides agreed that NATO was an ideal topic for their first documentary. Says Frontline Senior Producer Mike Sullivan: "With the INF treaty and the promise of a later treaty on strategic weapons, it was clear that the requirements for the defense of Europe were going to change drastically." From TIME's point of view, says Assistant Managing Editor Richard Duncan, who oversees the magazine's role in the series, "it was a natural, a story we've been covering closely for decades." When the Reagan- Gorbachev summit opens in Moscow on May 29, the show will have a solid news peg.

In putting together the special, Frontline Writer-Producers Stephanie Tepper and William Cran worked closely with TIME correspondents in Europe and Washington and rummaged through material from Time Inc.'s extensive library. "One of the most useful things was having access to TIME's remarkable research files," says Sullivan. In addition, Washington Bureau Chief Strobe Talbott, an authority on arms control, topped off the show with a video essay linking European defense to global nuclear deterrence.

Planning is already under way for a second collaboration -- profiles of the two U.S. presidential candidates -- which would air in the fall. "TIME and Frontline bring different but complementary skills to this ambitious enterprise," says TIME Managing Editor Henry Muller. "This broadcast shows how print and television can work together to create something of quality that neither medium could produce alone."