The Time-Warner merger had rocked both the financial and the publishing worlds

and ended, as WFB puts it, "the special place that Time magazine and its sister

publications had in American culture." One point at issue: the incredible "executive

compensation" (salaries plus bonuses and perks) being paid; Steve Ross, Mr. McGovern

tells us, had received a reported $79 million in one year, whereas Henry Luce, the

founder of Time-Life Inc., used to receive, according to Mr. Buckley, about $350,000 a

year. RMC: "In addition to disclosure, it would make a big difference if the directors

were really independent--if they didn't sit on each other's boards, if they didn't, indeed,

sit on each other's compensation committees, because they all have a stake in raising the

level of what each of them gets paid."