978-1319102852 Chapter 9

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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: Fixer Upper, the popular home renovation show on HGTV featuring Chip and

Joanna Gaines, had millions of TV fans during its 2013–2018 run. The Gaineses were able to

translate the success of their “brand” to the print world with the magazine Magnolia Journal,

published by Merideth Corporation. The magazine’s launch in 2016, boltstered by the Gaineses’

social media activity as well as their TV show, was one of the most successful ever.

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

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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

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B. Major Magazine Chains

C. Alternative Voices

V. Magazines in a Democratic Society

Examining Ethics: The Evolution of Photojournalism

Global Village: Cosmopolitan Style Travels the World

Media Literacy and the Critical Process: Uncovering American Beauty

LECTURE IDEAS

Preview Story

• Discuss how the Gaineses’ television success and social media activity helped them build a

brand that includes not only a successful magazine but also an ever-expanding retail empire.

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

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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 industry’s convergence with that of other media industries such as books, radio,

and television.

As with newspapers, magazines and their publishers are immersed in digital initiatives. Here

are a few samples:

• AARP The Magazine: Offers an online audio version of the magazine for blind consumers.

• Lucky, Seventeen, GQ, Teen Vogue, Brides, Popular Science, and Maxim: offer mobile–

specific scanning apps that enable 3–D involvement on every page.

• Meredith Corporation: Offers a comparison online shopping service, making it the first

publisher to cross the line between editorial content and closing sales.

• Wired: Because cutting-edge technology is its main content, it’s no surprise that Wired’s

Web site is robust, interactive, and very popular. The magazine was also one of the first to be

available on the iPad. By 2015, Wired’s online readership was more than 25 times the

readership of its print 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

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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 understand its content, and reading it on any other

platform simply wouldn’t work.” (See Claire Cain Miller, “For Interior Designers, D.I.Y.

Philosophy Extends to Web Magazine,” New York Times, June 21, 2010, p. B3.)

• New platforms present further challenges for magazines as they try to maintain revenue

while keeping up with new ways to deliver content. Seventeen became the first magazine to

seek followers on Snapchat in 2013. By 2015, three million readers per day were viewing

Cosmopolitan via Snapchat Discover.

• In early 2016, the magazines had nearly one trillion likes/followers on social media platforms

such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest. With 420 million page likes,

Facebook lead the way. (More details are available at:

www.magazine.org/sites/default/files/MPA-FACTbook201617-ff.pdf.)

III. The Domination of Specialization

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• 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 subscribers include Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, National

Geographic, People, Sports Illustrated, Time, and Women’s Day. (See

http://abcas3.auditedmedia.com/ecirc/magtitlesearch.asp.)

• Los Angeles Times staff writer Bob Baker had the following comments about AARP The

Magazine, which is sent to every AARP member: AARP is so huge that the organization

shrugged off about 60,000 membership cancellations in 2003 by members who were angered

by its support of a Medicare bill that added prescription drug benefits but partly privatized

the system. Baker also noted that baby boomers are not very good at renewing their

membership. Changing the name of the magazine from Modern Maturity to AARP The

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Magazine has helped. AARP The Magazine has also hired editors from Utne Reader and

Men’s Health. (See Bob Baker, “AARP’s Revamped Magazine Attempts Hip without the

Replacement,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2004, p. E1.)

Some other information about AARP The Magazine:

• A full-page color ad in AARP The Magazine costs more than $650,000.

• 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.

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• 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-consuming job that is noticed only when it is not done well.

Magazine editors hate it when they receive a letter to the editor complaining about a factual

error or, even worse, when they get hit by a libel suit. In the book Bright Lights, Big City

(1984) by Jay McInerney, the main character is a fact checker for the New Yorker. The book

was made into a film starring Michael J. Fox.

• Another way of breaking into the business is through internships. Most magazines offer

internship opportunities. The Association of Magazine Media sponsors a program every

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summer called Magazine University, offering networking opportunities for interns across

different publications.

• At the beginning of 2015, consumers were purchasing fewer magazines by retail (i.e., not

through subscriptions), a drop of about 6 percent from 2014. Supermarkets accounted for 35

percent and supercenters for about 14 percent of magazines sold by retail. Newsstands sold

only 2 percent of copies, down more than 20 percent from 2014.

• 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

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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.

• InStyle magazine was the first American magazine to implant product information

immediately adjacent to editorial images.

• The Japanese were the first to launch full-blown magalogs. The magalogs enjoyed immediate

success.

• The product evaluations in the new shopping magazines are relentlessly upbeat. Unlike

Consumer Reports, which doesn’t carry advertising and objectively evaluates product

quality, magalogs are all about advertiser support.

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 receive 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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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:

launchpadworks.com

Magazines on Screen: 13 Going on 30 (2004, 1:47 minutes). 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.

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.

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

attempts to define and explain photojournalism.

VIDEOS/DVDS/CDS

Africa’s Magazine Industry Persists in Digital Era (2016, 5:55 minutes). CNN talks to editors

behind top magazines in Africa about their strategy to remain relevant. Source: CNN,

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https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/06/27/marketplace-africa–africa–magazines-spc-

a.cnn.

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.

Reshaping an Industry, One Like at a Time (March 14, 2014, 10:17 minutes). TEDx Talks,

http://www.tedxeuston.com. Jacqueline Nwobu quit her medical job in 2010 to found

MunaLuchi Bride Magazine, a nationally distributed wedding magazine catering to women

of color in the USA. With no prior publishing experience, she succeeded in a tough industry.

Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=13&v=99FxWIFRqDw.

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

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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

Magnolia: https://magnolia.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

Statista: https://www.statista.com/topics/1265/magazines/

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