With Time Inc.‘s print ad revenues trending downward and digital growth likely to miss the company’s expected 53 percent gains, chairman and CEO Ann Moore is working on a two-year plan designed to manage the magazine unit through the downturn, TimesOnline reports. Moore doesn’t reveal too many details about the strategy, saying she “doesn’t know” if there will be layoffs.

—Blame the bankers: Moore does try to bat away rumors about a possible sale of the UK-based IPC division, which houses titles such as NME, Country Life, InStyle and its Southern lifestyle titles, Moore responds: “Where did you hear that from? I know, wishful thinking from bankers hoping for a mandate.” Later on in the interview, she defends Time Inc. as a “cash cow” for Time Warner (NYSE: TWX). Specifically, Moore points to Time Inc.’s $907 million profit last year, which represents 13 percent of the parent company’s content businesses. So where does all the negative talk around magazine companies come from? She feels that “investors were too focused on trying to find double-digit growth,” adding:  “I hope that the lesson from this crisis is that we have less bankers, and return to the basics with more people who actually make things.” Given that alcohol sales tend to do better in a downturn, Moore says she’s considering bringing IPC’s Decanter mag and website to the U.S.

—Newsweek tries to modernize (again): The weight of a long history can be a bit of a drag on magazine redesigns, which more often than not, really just try to tweak the margins. Mediaweek, citing unidentified sources, says that Newsweek execs are trying to “reimagine” the 75-year-old mag as if it were having its debut today. Last year, the news mag completed what was then considered a major overhaul, with fewer, but more dramatic photos and longer articles by a range of outside contributors. So while it seeks to change course on the print side, Newsweek hasn’t forgotten about the importance of its online end. Last week, the Washington Post Co title hired Pamela Raley, a former online ad sales exec at Hearst and Disney, to the new post of chief revenue officer. Her main focus will involve wringing more revenue out of Newsweek’s online operations.

Still on Newsweek, another story about its efforts to harness Kindle: Newsweek will publish four books, one about John McCain, Barack Obama and Joseph Biden, and Sarah Palin, that will only appear on Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) Kindle. These will be a compendium of stories it has already done over this election season on each of the candidates. The books, at $9.99, will go on sale Wednesday. Amazon says this won’t be the last of its kind…

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