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...some respects was the decade I spent with Reader's Digest, from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, first as editor in-chief of the Australian and New Zealand editions and then as one of the four issue editors of the US edition (who took turns at producing issues in an effort to avoid the excessively formulaic). Recollection of that time has come to mind with recent news that the great magazine is, in its eighty-first year, in tottery condition.
In Australia, many former colleagues in the newspaper business were of the opinion that I had drilled to the murky outer fringes of our profession by joining the foreign invader. This was far from the case. Any tendency I had to value clarity of expression, substance and accuracy of content and usefulness to readers was immeasurably enhanced by my experience with the Digest.
As well, the Australian and New Zealand editions of the Digest managed some enviable journalistic achievements. An article by Alan Trengove in 1978 was the first substantial report on performance-enhancing drug-taking by athletes. It was the lead article in the US edition and was delivered to the 100 million readers around the world which the Digest then had. I kept from Trengove (possibly until now) the information that I had had a handwritten note of thanks from DeWitt Wallace, founder and owner of the Digest, which did not mention Trengove, and a bonus amounting to $500 more than I had paid him for the article. (This sort of thing happened, regrettably arrythmically, at the Digest. A valued American writer got as a wedding gift from the proprietor a cheque for enough money to buy a house.) Since my contribution to the sports drug enterprise had been to say, "Okay, Al, give it a go," it could be said that justice had nodded. But I was too sensitive to give Trengove sleepless nights by...
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