Magazines: The 1 st of the Specialized Media © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights...

Magazines: The 1st of the Specialized Media

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Chapter OutlineHistoryIndustryControversies

The First Magazines Appeared in Germany in 1663, ▪ Targeted elite, literate audience.

The first two magazines in America, ▪ American Magazine & General Magazine,

Six months later both magazines had failed ▪ Magazines were seen as a luxury▪ Not like books or newspapers

By 1776, a hundred magazines had started and failed.


Ladies’ Magazine - special interest magazine ▪ Began publishing in 1828, under Sarah Josepha Hale▪ Focused on Women’s Interests, issues & rights

Ladies’ Magazine – ▪ Predecessor for Ladies’ Home Journal, founded in 1883 ▪ Expanded the area of women’s interests▪ to include sheet music and popular fiction.

The first magazine to achieve a mass audience was ▪ The Saturday Evening Post.


Early 1900s magazines and newspapers crusaded for social reform. ▪ Magazines, most effective in providing in-depth investigations.

McClure’s Magazine ▪ Attacked the monopolistic practices of Standard Oil

▪ Exposed municipal corruption in several cities. ▪ Other magazines began to follow suit.


Muckraking – Investigative Journalism – Video Clip▪ Articles led to child labor laws, ▪ Workers compensation ▪ First congressional investigations.

Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906▪ Passed because of the influence of muckraking reporting.


Consumer Magazines

Lets name a couple of each

News Magazines

Women’s Magazines

Men’s Magazines

Hobby Magazines

Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2009

Mass Circulation Magazines

Cultural magazines ▪ The New Yorker,

▪ Style magazines,

▪ Pulps such as True Confessions.

Reader’s Digest, featured brief versions of articles▪ Informative, well-written,

▪ Stressed conservative middle class values.


The first news magazine was Time, ▪ Originated the terms “photojournalism,” and “photo essay.”

Golden age of photojournalism began in 1930s▪ 35mm Leica camera allowed photographers to move with the

action

Golden age lasted until general-interest magazines declined in the 1960’s (What led to his decline?)


America’s only national medium until the 1920s, ▪ Before radio networks were established.

1960s advertisers moved to television ▪ To reach wider, more diverse audiences

As U. S. became more culturally diverse▪ Ethnic and business magazines flourished

What are some magazines that cater to special interest groups▪ (Ethnic, Cultural, Social, etc)


Adapting to New Media Magazines adapted to competition from new media. ▪ Movies popularity led to magazines about movies.

Playboy ▪ Makes more from cable & broadcast than magazines.

Magazines publish content on the Internet ▪ Cheaper because of no investments in paper, ink, or presses, ▪ No printing over runs or under runs, or postal rates. ▪ Interactivity with readers that is appealing to advertisers.


Types of Magazines – Pg 129 Major Types of Consumer Magazines – Pg 130 Top magazines by revenue – Pg 131 Top Magazines by Circulation – Pg 132 The Magazine staff – Pg 135 Top Magazine Covers – Pg 139


Consumer Magazines▪ Target members of the buying public

Trade magazines ▪ Focus on a particular business for people in those businesses. ▪ Can you think of any examples

Public relations magazines ▪ Put out by organizations, corporations, and institutions ▪ Sole intent of making their parent organization look good.


Professional journals ▪ Periodicals for doctors, lawyers, engineers and professionals ▪ Expensive, cost up to $14,919 a year.▪ Libraries cutting back on to save money. ▪ Reinvesting in digital online databases instead.

Little magazines▪ Publishes promising and established poets and authors ▪ Include The Antioch Review and The Paris Review


Comic books ▪ Little advertising, smaller revenue stream than other magazines. ▪ Have been an important part of American culture.▪ Any comic book readers in here? Which ones?

Zines ▪ Small, inexpensive publications - specific, usually obscure, topic. ▪ Important part of the beat/hippie movement of the 50s and 60s.

Today, many Zines exist only on the Web. ▪ blogs are an online version of what Zines use to be.


The Players Many publishers are Entrepreneurs ▪ Deep interest in the topic, small amount of money,

high tolerance for risk. Celebrity founded magazines ▪ O, The Oprah Magazine - one of the most successful ▪ Rosie - folded after dispute between Rosie O’Donnell and

corporate parent. Supermarket chains have been corporate publishers▪ Family Circle (Piggly Wiggly) and Women’s Day (A&P).


The Staff Editor, editor-in-chief, or executive editor ▪ In charge of the magazine’s overall direction.

Magazine editors ▪ Work mostly with freelance writers ▪ Only the largest magazines have primarily full time writers.

Contributing editor ▪ Magazine’s highest paid freelance writers. ▪ Tom Wolfe, a well-known and highly respected author, is a

contributing editor at Harper’s.


Advertisers/Advertising▪ Need the magazine to enhance its product sales and overall image. ▪ Magazine needs the advertiser for content as well as income.▪ Sales staffs sell the personality/worth of the reader to advertisers.

The circulation department ▪ Responsible for finding and keeping subscribers, ▪ Manages the subscriber list, Promote single-copy sales. ▪ Publishers also rely on subscription fulfillment companies ▪ Publishers Clearing House, etc

▪ (people knocking on your door trying to sell you magazines)


The production department ▪ Coordinates the actual printing of the magazines

The publicist’s job is to make headlines ▪ (in newspapers, radio, television and Internet news services) ▪ With news from the cover of the magazine’s current issue.


The Reader Industry Claims▪ About 90% of US adults read 12 issues a month on average, ▪ More education/income means more magazines people read.

Magazines have a healthy pass-along circulation, ▪ Several more people than the original buyer/subscriber read them.▪ (Where would you read a magazine that someone else bought)


Magazines define the ideal female beauty ▪ What do think some of these standards are?

As magazines continue to promote these standards▪ Women are increasingly unhappy with their bodies.

Critics insist that men’s ideas about women ▪ Are shaped by images such as Playboy’s centerfold▪ Editorial content such as Penthouse Forum.


Outline of a Normal Woman’s Body versus Outline of a Model’s Body


Credibility is a magazine’s primary asset, even in an industry that includes National Enquirer.▪ Does anyone read the supermarket tabloids? Which ones?

Legally, magazines are expected to be more diligent about truth and accuracy than daily newspapers ▪ Because magazines have a longer time to work on stories and check

facts.


Editorial independence ▪ A magazine’s independence from advertisers, ▪ Independence from those it writes about or supply it with information.

History of separating advertising and editorial▪ Ms., Mad, Consumer Reports, and Consumers Digest ▪ Take no ads, and Reader’s Digest refuses all cigarette ads.

The Saturday Evening Post, ▪ In final days promised to feature Henry Ford on its cover ▪ In exchange for $400,000 worth of Ford advertising.


Magazines and subscription fulfillment companies▪ Seek innovative ways to sell.▪ What are interesting ways people have tried to sell you magazines

Direct-mail used deception with fake million dollar check. Elders subscribe to magazines they can’t afford on fixed

incomes. Critics and the courts agreed that this practice was unethical. ▪ Publisher’s Clearing House reimbursed subscribers $18 million, ▪ Reader’s Digest was forced to return $8 million, ▪ Time Magazine was forced to refund nearly $5 million ▪ To customers who were fooled.


Bring 1-2 magazines of your choice to class on Wednesday for a class activity

Make sure you write down what magazines you brought or have your name on them so you can take them after class.


Magazines: The 1 st of the Specialized Media © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights...

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