According to Michael Kinsley, both claims are misleading. Now a commentator on CNN's Crossfire, Kinsley was editor of The New Republic when in 1988 he was asked to come to London to edit The Economist's American Survey. Americans buy it because it they assume it is an important institution in Britain. But as you know, The Economist doesn't have any bylines. Ostensibly, the magazine's anonymity allows The Econmist to speak with one voice.
Some writers say they prefer it that way.
With only sixty full-time journalists around the world, The Economist is heavily dependent on stringers. The answer is simple. A Soviet-style bureaucracy has enveloped the school system, and powerful, obstinate unions prevent reforms from happening at anything more than a snail's pace. On race, for instance, The Economist prides itself on not being bound by the shibboleths of American political correctness. Aside from simply giving whites more benefits of the doubt, this seems also to translate into the view that American blacks should stop whining and get on with making money.