Editor Apologizes For ‘Primary Colors’ Role

The editor of Newsweek said Friday that he has apologized for publishing speculation about who wrote “Primary Colors” when he knew the author was the magazine’s political columnist Joe Klein.

Maynard Parker, in a memo to magazine staffers, also said he had “told Klein, not once, but repeatedly, that he shouldn’t deny so categorically that he had written the book.”

“When Joe didn’t take that advice, I should have done more to separate Newsweek from his novel,” said Parker, who was in on the secret from the start of Klein’s book deal.

Klein emphatically denied being the author when New York magazine wrote in February that computer analysis of literary style pointed to him. He maintained that stance until Wednesday, confessing after The Washington Post also identified him, based on handwriting analysis.