Richard Pollak, Founding Editor of More Magazine, Dies at 91
Richard Pollak, the founding editor of More, an irreverent journalism review that in the 1970s criticized the mainstream press, died on Dec. 27 in Stockholm. He was 91, his wife, Diane Walsh, confirmed. The couple had moved to Sweden in May to live near their daughter and grandchildren.
More launched in 1971 after Mr. Pollak was recruited by J. Anthony Lukas and funded by William Woodward III. The magazine, styled on its cover as [More], aimed to hold newspapers and networks to account during a tumultuous era, scrutinizing coverage of the Vietnam War, President Richard M.
Nixon and the oil industry. Under Mr. Pollak’s editorship the magazine took an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek tone that reviewers later described as between The New York Review of Books and Spy. More frequently targeted The New York Times and Newsweek, publishing pieces that challenged prominent journalists and exposed episodes such as a spiked Baltimore Sun story reportedly halted after a call from Spiro Agnew.
Mr. Pollak also pushed for greater accountability in the press, pledging to print regular corrections and challenging The Times to do the same; the paper began a dedicated daily corrections section in 1972. Financial problems led to sales of More in 1976 and 1977 and its eventual closure in 1978.
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