978-1319058517 Chapter 9

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

Chapter 9

Magazines in the Age of Specialization

In this chapter, we will:

• Investigate the history of the magazine industry, highlighting the colonial and early American eras, the

arrival of national magazines, and the development of photojournalism

• Focus on the age of muckraking and the rise of general-interest and consumer magazines in the modern

American era

• Look at the decline of mass market magazines, the impact of TV and the Internet, and how magazines

have specialized in order to survive in a fragmented and converged market

• Investigate the organization and economics of magazines and their function in a democracy

Preview Story: Cosmopolitan, launched in 1886, has been an illustrated monthly, a literary magazine, a

muckraking magazine, a literary monthly targeted to women, and a top women’s fashion magazine.

I. The Early History of Magazines

A. The First Magazines.

B. Magazines in Colonial America.

C. U.S. Magazines in the Nineteenth Century.

D. National, Women’s, and Illustrated Magazines.

II. The Development of Modern American Magazines

A. Social Reform and the Muckrakers.

B. The Rise of General-Interest Magazines.

1. Saturday Evening Post.

2. Reader’s Digest.

3. Time.

4. Life.

C. The Fall of General-Interest Magazines.

1. TV Guide Is Born.

2. Saturday Evening Post, Life, and Look Expire.

3. People Puts Life Back into Magazines.

D. Convergence: Magazines Confront the Digital Age.

1. Magazines Move Online.

2. Paperless: Magazines Embrace Digital Content.

III. The Domination of Specialization

A. Men’s and Women’s Magazines.

B. Sports, Entertainment, and Leisure Magazines.

C. Magazines for the Ages.

D. Elite Magazines.

E. Minority-Targeted Magazines.

F. Supermarket Tabloids.

IV. The Organization and Economics of Magazines

A. Magazine Departments and Duties.

1. Editorial and Production.

2. Advertising and Sales.

3. Circulation and Distribution.

B. Major Magazine Chains.

C. Alternative Voices.

V. Magazines in a Democratic Society

Case Study: The Evolution of Photojournalism

Tracking Technology: Paper Still Dominates Magazines in the Digital Age

Media Literacy and the Critical Process: Uncovering American Beauty

Digital Job Outlook: Media Professionals Speak about Jobs in the Magazine Industry

LECTURE IDEAS

Preview Story

• Discuss how Cosmopolitan engaged in convergence in a pre-electronic, pre-digital era by serializing

books by writers like H. G. Wells (The War of the Worlds, 1897). Cosmopolitan was not unique in

this regard. In the nineteenth century, magazines like Atlantic Monthly and Scribner’s Monthly printed

work by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry James, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Arthur Conan Doyle,

and George Eliot—before the installments were published as books.

I. The Early History of Magazines

• Discuss the ways in which the look and feel of magazines has changed along with society, from the

early text-only magazines to the inclusion of illustrations, then photographs, and now multimedia

content like slide shows and video.

II. The Development of Modern American Magazines

• We like to talk about Theodore Roosevelt (“TR”) when we discuss muckraking reporters who wrote

for magazines such as McClure’s and the early Cosmo (whose muckraking past is often met with

disbelief from our students). There’s a good TR quote that is worth drawing your students’ attention to:

“Men with the muckrake are often indispensable to the well-being of society, but only if they know

when to stop raking the muck.” This president was himself a reformist and was involved in many

antitrust actions during his presidency (much to the chagrin of big business), but at times he was also at

odds with reporters, whom he felt raked up too much muck and caused his administration problems.

When talking about TR, it’s also helpful to use David Grubin’s TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt,

which aired as part of the PBS/American Experience series on U.S. presidents in the late 1990s

(available for purchase through http://www.shoppbs.org). We especially recommend the section called

“The Bully Pulpit.”

• Discuss how magazines and the Internet have converged in the last twenty years. Compare the

magazine.

• Magazines for touchscreen tablets capitalize on the mass customization trend. Much like customized

Google or Yahoo! home pages, magazines like Flipboard and AOL’s Editions allow readers to pull

content from a variety of sources—such as blogs, friends’ Facebook and Twitter pages, and other

magazine and news sites—and access it through a single, easy-to-use, magazine-like interface with

social sharing capabilities. These “magazines” update with the individual content providers, making it

a hyperindividualized, personal experience and truly reinventing the magazine for the tablet. Yahoo!

and Google are also working on their own social magazine apps. (Google tried to buy Flipboard, but

its offer was refused.)

• According to a June 2010 New York Times article, Issuu is “a Web platform where, for $19 a month,

anyone can upload a PDF and instantly create an online magazine that looks like a print one.” Such

innovations have allowed print magazines to transition online. However, the online interior design

magazine Lonny shows how online magazines can be much more for readers and advertisers. The

magazine’s Web site directly links readers to more information about featured products (including

where to buy them), making it an attractive option for advertisers. As Adam L. Penenberg, a

journalism professor at New York University, stated in the same article, “You’ll know a new

narrative form has emerged when you have to consume a particular story on an iPad to truly

III. The Domination of Specialization

• Discuss the magazine industry’s early niche-marketing strategies once television began to snatch

sponsors. Link these strategies to those of radio.

• In the 1950s, businesses began to realize that teenagers were a potentially lucrative market segment,

with more than $9 billion in disposable income to spend. Rock and roll and movies were targeted at

teens, and magazines began targeting them, too. In the first edition of ‘Teen magazine in June 1957,

the editors announced that their publication was “born into a generation that has finally come to

recognize persons between the ages of 13 and 19 as a distinct cultural group.” By 2015, Seventeen

maintained a circulation of two million.

• Surpassing even teen magazines, the fastest growing age-related magazine is AARP The Magazine.

• AARP’s magazine circulation of more than 22 million is the largest in the nation, dwarfing the

next three combined. The second largest magazine is Better Homes and Gardens (7.6 million

subscribers). The third and fourth most widely circulated are Game Informer Magazine (almost 6.9

million) and AAA Living (almost 5 million). Other magazines with more than three million paid

• So many of the magazine’s subscribers die off every year that it needs to attract new and

younger members just as quickly.

• Explain the various categories and types of magazines. Elaborate on some of the leading American

magazines, and touch on their histories and their impact on the magazine industry and on American

culture.

Magazines that have had an impact:

• Rolling Stone: Fred Woodward became art director of Rolling Stone in 1987 and changed art

design with his eclectic and powerful use of type as a primary design element.

• Elle: Launched in 1985, Elle transformed American fashion photography from the all-American

Condé Nast style to a vibrant, multicultural approach. The magazine’s decision to use models of

different ages, races, and shapes was considered daring.

• Spy: Like Elle, Spy, begun in the mid-1980s, had a huge impact on design and editorial

innovations. Funny charts, “Separated at Birth” photo features (later made into paperback books), and

splashy bits of color are now common in many magazines. Spy’s hallmark snideness and irreverence

also gave the mainstream media permission to be a bit more strident and cutting-edge. The

magazine’s approach was ultimately more appropriate in the 1980s; by the mid-1990s, moods had

shifted, and the magazine folded.

• Wired: Launched in 1993 as a member of the Condé Nast magazine group, Wired calls itself the

“journal of record for the future.” Focusing on people, companies, and ideas within the high-tech

industries, Wired’s splashy design has also taken magazine art direction to daring new levels.

• Texas Monthly: Beginning in 1973, Texas Monthly has set the standard for regional magazines,

with often groundbreaking articles on politics, the environment, industry, and education. The

magazine calls itself (and it is) the “indispensable authority on the Texas scene.”

• Discuss how the changing demographics of the United States are widening the market for minority-

targeted magazines. Evaluate growth niche markets in this area.

IV. The Organization and Economics of Magazines

• Discuss the launching of popular magazines and what it takes for a magazine to succeed.

• One way that many young people break into the magazine business’s editorial side is through the

fact-checking department. Before an article is published, magazine fact checkers carefully go over

it, correcting inaccurate spellings, double-checking dates and figures, tracking down and verifying

every tidbit of data, and affirming that a person quoted meant what he or she said. It is a time-

• Women’s magazines have taken another hit because of the growth of superstores. With many

checkout lanes, not all of which are stocked with magazines, people are moving through the

supermarket more quickly and are no longer lingering as long in front of glossy magazine titles.

Shopping magazines are putting pressure on traditional women’s and men’s magazines to adapt.

For example, the companion Web site to Vogue, Style.com, offers an online store allowing readers

to purchase products featured in the magazines.

• Advertiser pressure to dictate a magazine’s editorial content is mounting. Here are a few examples:

• Fortune magazine did a cover story on Louis Gerstner Jr., the CEO of IBM. The article hailed

him for doing a good job but also called him arrogant, brusque, and obsessed with status. Gerstner

didn’t like the piece, however, and soon thereafter announced that all Lotus advertising would be

pulled from Fortune indefinitely (Lotus is a subsidiary of IBM). The move cost Fortune an

estimated $6 million a year for its editorial audacity.

• Walmart and a number of other supermarkets and big discount chains are reserving the right to

review (and reject) editorial copy and magazine covers before magazines are placed in their stores.

Many of these magazines are obliging by (1) altering their content or (2) sending advance copies

for preapproval, thus allowing only certain issues, and not the magazine title, to be pulled. Because

supermarkets and big discount chains control about half of the single-copy sales of U.S. magazines,

the magazine industry is forced to work within their rules.

V. Magazines in a Democratic Society

• Discuss magazines as important vehicles for democracy: political pamphlets, muckraking

publications, and today’s political interest magazines.

• Discuss the specialization, advertising, and ownership patterns of the magazine industry and what

sort of positive and negative impact these patterns may have on democracy.

MEDIA LITERACY DISCUSSIONS AND EXERCISES

MAGAZINES AND YOU

Ask students how they access magazine content: Do they subscribe and received print copies or electronic

copies? Do they use magazine Web sites? Do they view magazines on Snapchat?

Follow up by discussing whether students share magazine content with others. Highlight differences

in the functions that various print media (books, newspapers, and magazines) have for individuals and for

our culture. Show students the YouTube video “A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXV-yaFmQNk) as a opener to a discussion about generational

differences in media use.

MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS

Using a few sample magazines in class, discuss the following issues related to magazine

advertisements:

• Are ads placed in proximity to editorial content of a related topic (e.g., suntan lotion or sunglasses

ads next to an article about beach vacations)?

• How aesthetically similar are the ads and editorial content (e.g., the style of a magazine’s fashion

ads and its photo shoot)?

• Do some ads seem to be at odds with the editorial content (e.g., cigarette ads in a youth-oriented

magazine)?

• Do ad pages outnumber editorial content pages?

• Do ad pages make it hard to find the magazine’s table of contents?

• Do ads add a positive experience to magazine reading?

• Do they seem to influence magazine content?

• Can a magazine’s credibility be damaged by too much adherence to advertiser values?

• Are some magazines purchased largely for the ads?

THE SHELF LIFE OF A MAGAZINE

Pre-Exercise Question: Do we experience magazines more the way we do newspapers (read and

discarded each day) or the way we do books (read and stored on bookshelves)?

Ask your students to consider the way they or other people in their home use magazines. How did the

magazines get there? Which ones (if any) were part of a paid subscription, purchased at a newsstand,

received in the mail for free, or passed along? Are the magazines read by one or many people in the

home? Do the magazines get passed on to others outside the home? How long are the magazines kept?

Are they archived, given away, or thrown out? Are some pages ripped out, hung up, mailed off, or saved

for a specific reason?

IDEOLOGICAL DIVERSITY IN NEWS MAGAZINES

The purpose of this Critical Process exercise is to appreciate the ideological diversity of weekly

newsmagazines. Work with a partner or in small groups. (This project could also be converted into a

formal argument paper.)

1. Description. Take a recent issue of the mainstream newsweekly Time and review all the articles,

including the various topics covered, the writing style and tone, the level of analysis within the

articles, and the information sources employed. In the same manner, review all the articles in a

recent issue of the conservative magazine the Weekly Standard and the progressive magazine the

Nation, each of which has a fraction of Time’s circulation. (Other political magazines may be

substituted.) To add another dimension to your research, review the ads in each magazine.

2. Analysis. Devise a chart to organize your findings according to (a) the stories covered and (b) the

way the stories are covered. What patterns emerge? How do the publications differ? What do you

notice about the advertisers in each magazine?

3. Interpretation. The Weekly Standard and the Nation represent competing visions of society. To

what extent are their viewpoints also reflected in the mainstream media? Why do you think certain

topics covered in these magazines are included/excluded from mainstream magazines like Time?

4. Evaluation. What value do magazines like the Weekly Standard and the Nation add to the debate on

various social issues? What other mass media (television, radio, etc.) regularly cover the same

issues from their political perspective? Should their views be reflected more in the mainstream

media? What would this public dialogue look like? If people read only mainstream media, what

would they be missing?

5. Engagement. Keep track of what may be missing in the mainstream media sphere by reading

magazines that offer alternatives, and make sure you read articles that you don’t agree with. Try

dipping into the following conservative publications: the National Review, the Weekly Standard,

and the American Conservative. Likewise, sample the stories from the Nation, the Progressive, and

Mother Jones. Begin to question your own ideology. Where do you stand on these important

issues? Finally, impress your friends with your knowledge, and inspire them to start reading more.

THE THIN LINE BETWEEN EDITORIAL CONTENT AND ADS

Pre-Exercise Question: Imagine you’re a magazine editor and have just published a well-researched

article on the potentially dangerous side effects of a new diet drug. The article is one of a series on the

hazards of diet drugs. The advertising executive for the manufacturer of the drug, who buys a significant

amount of advertising in your publication for its many products, calls and says, “Don’t ever run an article

like that again.” What would you do?

This Critical Process exercise looks at the relationship between editorial content and advertisements

in magazines and at how magazines cope with the desire for editorial independence and the drive for

advertising revenue.

1. Description. Select a magazine (or several magazines). Chart the kinds of ads (cigarettes,

automobiles, cosmetics, exercise equipment, etc.) that appear in the magazines. Then note the

editorial content of the magazine(s), including the stories, photographs, and other features.

2. Analysis. How similar are the ads and the editorial content? Are ads placed in proximity to editorial

content on a related topic (e.g., suntan lotion or sunglasses ads next to an article about beach

vacations)? How similar aesthetically are the ads and editorial content (e.g., the style of a

magazine’s photo shoot and its fashion ads)? Is the similarity more common in special-interest

magazines? Are there ads that seem to be at odds with the editorial content (e.g., cigarette ads in a

youth-oriented magazine)? Do ad pages outnumber editorial pages?

3. Interpretation. Do advertisements seem to influence magazine content? Can a magazine’s

credibility be compromised by too much adherence to advertiser values? Explain.

4. Evaluation. Can there be a desirable balance between advertisements and editorial content? Would

magazines be better without advertisements?

5. Engagement. Send letters to the editors of magazines that seem to ignore or soft-pedal topics that

might offend advertisers. Or join the efforts of a nonprofit organization like the Campaign for

Tobacco-Free Kids, which monitors tobacco advertising in youth-oriented magazines.

Option: The Pre-Exercise Question could also be addressed by a discussion exercise in which a

magazine’s editorial policy is developed to handle these kinds of situations.

TRACKING RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY: A SEMESTER-

LONG CRITICAL PROCESS EXERCISE AND PAPER

In this exercise students discover the most recent developments in the industry, and they become familiar

with industry trade sources. The paper they produce is due in sections, which correspond with the steps in

the Critical Process.

1. Description. Read industry trade sources to get a sense of the main issues affecting the magazine

industry. Look at the Web sites of industry trade associations and professional societies. (Links to

Web sites of some industry trade sources are given in the Classroom Media Sources below.) Take

notes on topics that have multiple stories or mentions in the current year. What issues or

developments in the industry have received a lot of recent attention, discussion, or commentary in

industry sources? (Focus only on information from the current year—and only from trade sources.)

Write a one-page synopsis of the information you found about current topics in the industry. Cite your

sources properly.

2. Analysis. Look for one development or pattern that has received significant attention on trade sites

and from trade journalists in the current year. Choose one specific trend, and write one or two pages

with details about the information you found about that trend. Continue to track news about your

topic as the semester progresses. Cite sources properly.

3. Interpretation. What does the trend mean for the state of the industry? Is it evolving? How? What

does it tell you about media in general at the current time? What might it say about our culture or our

society? Can your information help us interpret the role of the industry in our lives? Write up your

interpretation in a five-page paper. (The first page should be a synopsis of the trend, with proper

citations.) You might not have to provide information from your sources for the next four pages

because this section is your interpretation of the trend. (Save any ideas you have about whether the

trend is “good” or “bad” for the Evaluation step of the Critical Process.)

4. Evaluation. Is the trend “good” or “bad?” For the industry? society? culture? democracy? us? What

do you think might happen in the future?

5. Engagement. Are there any actions you can take (related to your trend and the industry)? Possibilities

include posting your views on social media, creating a petition, contacting people in the industry to

see what they think of your interpretation and evaluation, or going to an industry event if any are held

nearby. (This step need not be required if students are not motivated to take action.)

Note: This exercise works well if each step of the Critical Process is due two weeks after the prior step is

due. Limiting students to only trade sources and only information from the current year helps keep them

on track. Your institution’s librarians should be able to provide students with information on how to

access industry trade sources.

CLASSROOM MEDIA RESOURCES

LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE: http://www.macmillanhighered.com/mediaculture11e

The Power of Photojournalism (2010, 8:16 minutes). Part one of a two-part series, this video attempts to

define and explain photojournalism.

Magazine Specialization Today (2009, 3:58 minutes). Magazine editors discuss the original motivations

for magazine specialization and how the market and the Internet are changing the industry. Featuring

Mike Molenda, Ernie Rideout, and Matt York.

Narrowcasting in Magazines (2009, 1:46 minutes). Magazine editors explain the benefits and

consequences of narrowcasting. Featuring Mike Molenda, Ernie Rideout, and Matt York.

Magazines on Screen: 13 Going on 30 (2004, 1:47). This brief clip from the film 13 Going on 30 shows

Jenna, played by Jennifer Garner, making a pitch to revamp the magazine where she works.

VIDEOS/DVDS/CDS

The Devil Wears Prada (2006, 110 minutes). Anne Hathaway stars as the assistant to a demanding editor

(played by Meryl Streep) in the high-pressure atmosphere of a top fashion magazine.

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011, 92 minutes). Documentary about fashion icon and her

work at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.

Magazine Industry (1997, 29 minutes). This program examines the evolution of the magazine industry

during the twentieth century (part of the Film, TV, and Media Today ten-part series). Distributed by

Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 800-322-8755; http://www.films.com/.

Margaret Bourke-White (1989, 105 minutes). TV biopic about the life of the path-breaking

photojournalist.

The September Issue (2009, 90 minutes). Behind-the-scenes documentary about Vogue editor-in-chief

Anna Wintour and the making of the Vogue issue for September, 2007.

Theodore Roosevelt (1996, 240 minutes). Part of the Presidents’ Collection by American Experience

documentary producer David Grubin, this film tells the story of TR. The film is particularly useful for

its description of TR on the “bully pulpit” in the age of muckraking magazine journalism. We

recommend the six-minute excerpt titled “The Bully Pulpit.” Distributed by PBS Video, 800-531

-4727; http://www.shoppbs.org.

WEB SITES

Alliance for Audited Media (merger of Audit Bureau of Circulations and Certified Audit of Circulations):

https://auditedmedia.com

American Society of Magazine Editors: http://www.magazine.org/asme

Condé Nast: http://www.condenast.com

Folio: http://www.foliomag.com

Hearst Corporation: http://www.hearst.com

Meredith Publishing Company: http://www.meredith.com

min (Media Industry News): http://www.minonline.com

MPA – The Association of Magazine Media: http://www.magazine.org

Professional Publishers Association: http://www.ppa.co.uk

Salon: http://www.salon.com

Slate: http://www.slate.com

TV Guide Online: http://www.tvguide.com