The Press: Questions Mark Magazines

The inquiring reporter, once a bright star of U.S. journalism, today is being outglittered by a new performer: the inquiring headline writer. On the theory that no question is too complex for a headline—and no answer too lame for the text—the quiz kid rose swiftly from keyhole-peeping sheets such as Confidential (WHAT WAS PRIME MINISTER NEHRU'S

SNAKE DOING IN THE STARLET'S BED?) to slick women's magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, which inquired recently: ARE WE COMMERCIALIZING SEX? (Conclusion: "Maybe.") Many other mass-circulation magazines have joined the fad for question mark journalism,...