Media Essentials: Chapter 4: Magazines in the Age of Specialization

Magazine

A collection of articles, stories, advertisements published on a non daily cycle in a smaller tabloid style. Influenced by European newspapers of the 17th century. The first magazines were published in France.

Muckraking

A term coined by Roosevelt in 1906 that was used to describe reporters who would "crawl through society's much to get a story." Led to Investigative Journalism which advocated social reform and exposing of wrongdoing.

General Interest Magazines

Covered a wide variety of topics aimed at a broad national audience such as recent developments in government, medicine or society. A key aspect of these magazines was the use of photojournalism.

Photojournalism

Use of photos to augment editorial content.

Television

Rising popularity of TV put many magazines out of business in the 1950s. Magazines fought back by focusing on topics not covered by TV. Early examples: TV Guide and People.

General-Interest Magazine

Offered occasional investigative articles but also covered a wide variety of topics aimed at broad national audiences.

Pass-Along Readership

The total number of readers of a single issue of a magazine.

Supermarket tabloids

Feature bizarre human-interest stories, gruesome murder tales, violent accident accounts, unexplained phenomena stories and malicious celebrity gossip.

Webzines

Magazines on the Internet, specialized, targeted audiences.

Regional Editions

National magazines whose content is tailored to the interest of different geographical areas.

Split-run editions

Editorial is the same as regional editions, but includes a few pages of ads purchased by local or regional companies.

Demographic editions

Target particular groups of consumers (occupation, class, zip code).

Evergreen subscription

Subscription that is automatically renewed on credit card.

Desktop publishing

Enables editor to write, design, lay out, print the publication/post it online.

Magalogs

Combine glossy magazines with the sales pitch of retail catalogs.

How Magazines Became National In Scope

1. Increase in literacy and public education
2. Faster printing technology
3. Improvements in mail delivery

Trade Publications

Specialty magazines aimed at narrowly defined audiences. They supply news, spot trends, and share data relevant to manufacturing trades, business sectors, or professional fields.

Money in for Magazines

1. Advertising
2. Newsstand and Subscription Sales

Money out for Magazines

1. Content Development
2. Production
3. Sales and Marketing
4. Distribution

Colonial Magazines

1740 - Appeared first in Philadelphia and Boston

National Magazines

1821 - Saturday Evening Post for women, longest running mag in US history

Engravings and Illustrations

1850s - Drawings, woodcuts, other forms of illustrations began to fill the pages of magazines.

Postal Act of 1879

Postal rates and rail fees dropped making magazines o widen their distribution.

Muckraking Magazines

Early 1900s - Pushed Progressives social reforms with their investigative reporting.

Ladies Home Journal

1903 - Reached a circulation of 1 million

Reader's Digest

1922 - Leading magazine in the nation

Time

1923 - Time is launched, new style of narrative journalism.

Life

1936 - Life is launched,advances in photojournalism

TV Guide

1953 - An overnight success as a niche publication

Cosmopolitan

1965 - Helen Gurley Brown turns Como into a leading magazine for women.

Magazine Shutdowns

1969-1972 - Because of competition of TV, Saturday Evening Post, Look and Life shut down.

People

1974 - First successful mass market magazine in decades

ESPN Magazine

1998 - launches successfully, capitalizes on the growing ESPN sports media empire

AARP Bulletin and Magazine

2008 - Subscription only, highest circulation of any magazine in the US.

Recession

2009 - Closing of several magazines