Time cover sparks controversy

NEW YORK, April 27 (UPI) -- For the second week in a row, the cover of Time magazine has drawn added attention, an industry publication said.

Medianews.com reported Sunday that Time Managing Editor Rick Stengel this week has raised eyebrows by using a split-screen concept to illustrate the protracted battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, using a tagline from the 3-week-old NBA playoffs.

"I thought, people who were familiar with the (NBA) campaign would like it and smile, and there's obviously equivalency between the election and the playoffs," Stengel said. "But I think it's powerful and striking enough on its own."

However, editors at the The New Republic have complained the Times cover is a ripoff of its April 9 "HillarAck" cover.

A week earlier, Stengel drew some veterans groups' ire by using a 1945 photo of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima to portray the struggle to end global warming. In that cover, art director Arthur Hochstein substituted a tree for the flag in the photo illustration.

Joe Zeff, a former graphics director of Time, said Stengel has kept the magazine in the public eye.

"There's a lot of gloom and doom coming out of the Time Life building these days, but he's managed to keep the spotlight focused on Time and its covers," Zeff said, alluding to the circulation decline of newsweeklies.