James Michaels - Editorial Style

Editorial Style

According to Allan Sloan of Fortune Magazine, James Michaels, “was an absolutely brilliant editor who transformed business magazine journalism.” Steve Forbes described James Michaels as a tough editor who wanted articles short, dramatic, and opinionated. According to the New York Times, when Michaels took over as editor, "American journalism remained a polite, dry affair, and corporate spin was reported without much skepticism. Ahead of his time, he made Forbes opinionated, interpretive and often indecorous, a magazine staunchly pro-business (and, its critics said, pro-wealthy) but did not hesitate to skewer companies and executives it saw as failures." According to Forbes, "he despised ‘bad actors’ who were cheating investors, customers, employees.”

According to the New York Times many of his former writers and editors remember Mr. Michaels as much for his brutal assessments of their work as for his incisive teaching. While always a gentlemen and available to talk, he could not stand verbose writing and would ruthlessly cut words and forced writers to state their view. A staunch contrarian, he did not let public opinion dictate the magazines views.

Michaels focused on the needs of his readers, rather than pleasing corporate executives or the mainstream media. Allan Sloan wrote, “Unlike many of his competitors, Michaels didn't particularly lionize corporate chieftains. His focus was on representing small investors' interests.” Mr. Michaels wrote, “MY THESIS is this: If newspapers hope to survive they would do well to be less concerned with a liberal social agenda and more with the lives, hopes, and fears of their potential readers.”

Michaels was a hater of weasel words. William Baldwin (current Forbes editor) wrote “Jim had a novel idea. Why not speak to the reader as if you were speaking to a friend on a street corner? Brevity helps. Judgments help. If the chairman of the company is a nincompoop, say so -- if there's evidence to prove it."

As editor, Michaels edited 1,000 issues and he worked on almost every story. He wanted articles to be shorter, more direct, and with a clear conclusion to ensure they were fit for readers. He also wanted stories in Forbes to be original. If a story had been covered in another publication, he didn't want it in the magazine. To quote him, "Our readers look to us for groundbreaking, helpful stuff. Who needs us if we're doing what everyone else is doing?"