TIME this month reached its 29th birthday. The news span we have covered in those 29 years is approximately the same as the news-conscious life of the head of the average TIME-reading family, now 42 1/2 years old. But the character of the news itself is far different from what it used to be.

In 1923, a postwar year in which peace seemed to be secured to the world, the news often seemed to be little more than a picture-book pageant of the period's "wonderful normalcy" --of World Series heroes, movie stars and politics-as-usual. And the future appeared even brighter than the present. U.S. business was bouncing off the ropes of a minor recession and picking up momentum for the boom of the '20s. The news that reached the public was often frivolous, frequently reflecting the optimism of the day, only occasionally weighted with vague foreboding of more troubled days to come. Every village was its own hub of the universe, and Washington had a quality of dreamworld remoteness.

Today the news has somehow moved very close to all of us, often reaching into our personal lives with frightening intimacy. We have learned that the facts of life in Asia, Africa or Kansas City can have repercussions that rock us all. The long years of war and crisis through which we have passed, and from which we have yet to emerge, have sharpened our sensitivities, increasing vastly our respect for the world's significant news.

The challenge faced by the editors of TIME is manifestly greater than it was in 1923. Facts have taken on a sharp and immediate importance; more people need more facts today than ever before in history. To help meet that need, TIME has developed an active and widespread newsgathering organization, as well as the means for speedy distribution of the finished product to English-speaking people all over the world. What the editors of TIME consider more important than the physical organization, however, is their policy of not standing between the facts and the reader. "To keep men well-informed--that, first and last, is the only ax this magazine has to grind," said TIME'S original prospectus.

Along with the bare framework of facts, there is still a need for critical judgment and appraisal of the meaning of events--both by the reporter who is close to the news and by the editor who has an opportunity to balance the news from one place against another. or from one week to the next. To exercise such judgment requires a starting point, a set of guiding and governing principles.

Such a set of principles was part of the prospectus that told what kind of magazine TIME would be. Because "complete neutrality on public questions and important news is probably as undesirable as it is impossible," the editors wrote then, they were "ready to acknowledge certain prejudices which may in varying measure predetermine their opinions on the news." They listed a catalogue of typical convictions: "1. A belief that the world is round and an admiration of the statesman's 'view of all the world.' "2. A general distrust of the pres ent tendency toward increasing inter ference by the government.

"3. A prejudice against the rising cost of government.

"4. Faith in the things which money cannot buy.

"5. A respect for the old, particularly in manners.

"6. An interest in the new, particularly in ideas."

We at TIME believe the original standards have successfully withstood a long test and have as much validity today as they had in the much more serene world of 1923. We still believe that the concept of purely "objective" reporting is not only unattainable but unrealistic. The editors of TIME have always set themselves a more workable goal: fairness, and a constant effort to blend the news into its own background. And while avoiding glib predictions of the future, TIME seeks to present the news in a way that will give its readers an intelligent estimate of what the future is likely to bring.

Faced with today's challenge. TIME'S editors try to give you clear and undistorted facts that are honest in dealing with men and issues. In this presidential election year, when the efforts of many men will be directed primarily at clouding issues. TIME'S aim will continue to be to bring you a fair, meaningful report of what is happening in the world today.

Cordially yours,

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