Chapter 4 Magazines
I. Introduction
A. Today’s magazines are targeted at specific audiences.
B. Magazines deliver these specific audiences efficiently to advertisers.
Like the newspaper, the magazine has a complex history shaped by the
cultures in which it developed. Examining the industry’s roots and its
transformation over time can contribute to a better understanding of the
modern industry.
The arrival of the 20th century brought with it new types of magazines,
including news, business, and picture magazines. In time, these types of
publications came to dominate the industry and attract vast readerships.
II. Magazines Reflect Trends and
Culture
A. Magazines reflect the surrounding culture and the characteristics of the
society in which they are published
B. Today specialty and Internet magazines are responses by magazine
publishers to the shrinking number of magazine readers, as publishers
struggle to attract an audience.
III. Colonial Magazines Compete with
Newspapers
A. In 1741, in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Bradford raced
each other to become America’s first magazine publisher.
IV. Magazines Travel Beyond Local
Boundaries
A. The earliest example of magazines was Erbauliche Monaths
Unterredungen, a literary and philosophy magazine, which was launched in
1663 in Germany.
In the mid-1800s, monthly magazines gained popularity. They were general
interest to begin, containing some news, vignettes, poems, history, political
events, and social [Link] newspapers, they were more of a
monthly record of current events along with entertaining stories, poems,
and pictures.
The development of the magazines stimulated an increase in literary
criticism and political debate, moving towards more opinionated pieces
from the objective [Link] increased time between prints and the
greater amount of space to write provided a forum for public arguments
by scholars and critical observers.
Women's magazines
Immortalized in movies and magazines, young women's fashions of the
1920s set both a trend and social statement, a breaking-off from the
rigid Victorian way of life.
Their glamorous life style was celebrated in the feature pages and in the
advertisements, where they learned the brands that best exemplified the
look they sought.
V. Publishers Locate New Readers
A. Four enduring subjects in 1800s magazines were women’s issues, social
crusades, literature and the arts, and politics.
B. Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, was a pioneer in
the history of women’s magazines in America was Sarah Josepha Hale. She
edited the magazine from 1837–1877.
C. The Ladies’ Home Journal, founded by Cyrus Curtis in 1887, is credited
with leading a crusade against dangerous medicines, and was the first
magazine to refuse patent medicine ads.
Specialized Magazines Take Over
A. Very few general interest magazines survive today.
B. Today magazines seek to target an audience, which they can do more
effectively than any other mass medium.
Magazines Divide into Three Types
A. Consumer magazines are all magazines sold by subscription or at
newsstands, supermarkets and bookstores.
B. Consumer magazines make the most money because they have the
most readers and carry the most advertising such as people, men’s health
and cosmopolitans.
C. Trade, technical and professional magazines cover particular industries,
such as medicine.
D. Some businesses produce company magazines for their employees,
customers and stockholders. These magazines usually don’t carry
advertising. Their main purpose is to promote the company.
Picture Magazines
Photojournalism, or the telling of stories through photography, also became
popular during the early 20th century. Although magazines had been
running illustrations since the 19th century, as photography grew in
popularity so did picture magazines. The most influential picture magazine
was Henry Luce’s Life, which regularly published between 1936 and 1972.
Within weeks of its initial publication, Life had a circulation of 1 million. In
Luce’s words, the publication aimed “to see life; to see the world; to witness
great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud;
to see strange things (Encycopaedia Britannica).” It did not disappoint.
Widely credited with establishing photojournalism, Life captured the
attention of many on first read. With 96 large-format glossy pages, even the
inaugural issue sold out. The opening photograph depicted an obstetrician
holding a newborn baby with the caption “Life begins.”
Into the 21st Century
During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the advent of online
technology began to greatly affect both the magazine industry and the
print media as a whole. Much like newspaper publishers, magazine
publishers have had to rethink their structure to reach out to an increasingly
online market.
Magazines at Work
A. The editorial department handles all the magazine content except the
advertisements.
B. The circulation department manages subscriptions.
C. The advertising department is responsible for finding companies that
would like to advertise in the magazine.
D. Manufacturing and distribution departments manage the production of
the magazine and get it to readers.
E. Administration manages the organization.
F. Advertisers provide nearly half a magazine’s income, which often brings
tension between a magazine’s advertising staff and its editorial staff.
The magazine editors job is to keep the content interesting so people will
want to read the magazine.
Good magazine editors can create a distinctive, useful product by
carefully choosing the best articles for the magazines audience and
ensuring the articles are well written and illustrated.
Full time magazine staffers write many of the articles, such as a food editor
who creates recipes or a columnist who writes commentary. Some
magazines use articles by freelancers.
Freelancers do not receive a salary from the magazine, instead they are
paid for each article published in the magazine.
Magazines Compete for Readers in
Crowded Markets
A. Magazines no longer play the cutting-edge social, political and cultural
role as in the past. B. Today’s magazine audiences have grown older and
younger readers are less likely to read magazines than their parents.
C. In 1990, for the first time, the number of magazines published in the
United States stopped growing, and today the number is declining.
D. Women continue to be the single most lucrative audience for
magazines, and include several point-of-purchase magazines sold mainly
at the checkout stands in supermarkets.
E. Besides targeting a special audience, magazines also can divide their
audience further with regional and special editions that offer articles for
specific geographic areas along with regional advertising, or they can use
webzines, online magazines available only on the Internet.
Magazines’ Future Is on the Internet
A. Magazines complement other media yet have their own special
benefits.
B. Magazines’ survival has always depended on their ability to adapt to
new trends.
C. The magazine industry today can integrate magazines with other mass
media in three ways.
1. Expand their presence on the Internet.
2. Create partnerships.
3. Find new niche audiences.
Important questions
How does a magazine reflect trends and culture? 3
Name the three types in the magazine? 9
How does the magazine work at work? 12
The magazine industry today can integrate magazines with other mass
media in three ways. What are they? 15