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NUs Evolution

A little less than three years ago, National Underwriter relaunched as a weekly newsmagazine. The dynamic new format replaced our century-old newspaper-style front page with a more modern cover story approach, calling attention to the in-depth trend stories and analyses we feature to help readers make sense of the developments that shape the market.

Still, we maintained our leadership position in breaking news. Indeed, we increased our news production exponentially with the help of the Web and our hardworking staff, posting original stories each day at www.NationalUnderwriter.com. We then put the most important breaking news of the week into perspective in the early pages of our print weekly.

The feedback from readers about our relaunch was overwhelmingly positive. But we are not ones to rest on our laurels.

We continue NU's evolution with the enhanced design unveiled in this edition. Our goal is to help readers get a quicker grasp of the most important news stories breaking each week, as well as being able to tell at a glance the key points of cover stories and trend features by using more explanatory headlines and infographics.

Part of the redesign is this column. In the past, NU ran an anonymous editorial each week that represented “the views of the magazine.” But that is more of a newspaper trait than a newsmagazine's, which is more likely to feature the opinions and personalities of its senior editors. I'll be sounding off in this spot most weeks.

As always, we're very interested in your comments. Please e-mail your thoughts to me at sfriedman@nuco.com. We aim to please.

Words Matter

In the news this week, I was disappointed to hear that the insurance industry's long-time champion of tort reform, American International Group Chairman Maurice Greenberg, had referred to his political opponents as “terrorists.”

Speaking at the Chief Executives' Club of Boston, Mr. Greenberg was reported to have said that battling tort reform adversaries is like fighting the war on terrorists. Although AIG declined to comment on the remarks, the reaction from trial lawyer groups was swift and furious, and understandably so.

No one has spoken out louder or more forcefully for tort reform than Mr. Greenberg. His unfortunate remarks might have been prompted by frustration with the glacial pace of reform at the federal and state levels. His worst nightmare–former trial lawyer John Edwards–is a strong bet to be the Democrats' candidate for vice president.

Still, he was wrong to lump plaintiff attorneys with “terrorists” who have killed thousands of people, and who seek to murder more Americans as well as our allies around the world.

Such inflammatory language obscures the many valid points of Mr. Greenberg's compelling argument, and could ultimately undermine his crusade for tort reform. After all, trial lawyers, never at a loss for words, are sure to try to make certain that Mr. Greenberg eats his, or that they at least come back to haunt him.

Sam Friedman
Editor-In-Chief

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, March 5, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.