Mass Media Chapter 3 Magazines

bring US culture to a national audience

What did magazines do?

Postal Act of 1879

discounted mailing rates, drop distribution costs and spark circulation growth

National Ad Medium

affordable way to pass along literature and ideas, colorful

Massive Magazine Audience

66% of adults read one magazine a month, more education and income

Investigative Reporting

early 20th century, Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," Ida Tarbell 19 part Standard Oil Monopoly in McClure's

Personality Profiles and Interviews

in depth, balanced biographical article

Harold Ross

founder of The New Yorker, time-consuming

Hugh Hefner

Playboy editor who created modern Q & A, Time's 10 questions

Photojournalism

Harper's Weekly during Civil War, National Geographic and Life

Circulation Leaders

Try to offer something for everyone, but most edited for a smaller audience; 5,300 magazines published monthly, narrow focus (Motor Trend, Forbes, Family Circus); heavily reliance on advertisement push the envelope

Examples of Circulation magazines

AARP The Magazine, Costco Connection, Game Informer, Better Homes and Gardens, Reader's Digest

What are Circulation Leaders?

publications with the highest circulation numbers

1923

Time Magazine was created, but initially unsuccessful (rehashing the news), readers came to like it, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report follow

Newspaper Supplements

readers neither subscribe nor buy them directly, once carried they have instant circulation (Parade: 32 million - reach of 54 million)

Women's Magazines

Ladies' Magazines, became Godey's Lady's Book (founder Sara Jospeha Hale); uplift and glorify womanhood, info on fashion, morals, and taste Seven Sisters, eighth "Cosmo," spawn the younger and teen markets

Men's Magazines

Esquire, then Playboy, market shifts back to more traditional magazines

Comics

DC (Batman) and Marvel (Spiderman, X-Men), influence on movie industry

Sponsored Magazines

generally non-newsrack magazines, usually member supported

National Geographic

entice people to join via subscription, National Geographic Society (like AARP Magazine)

Trade Journals

keep members of a profession informed, many rely on ads, some sent out to free to readers whom advertisements want to reach

Criticism

companies written about pay for ads, little capital to start one with little journalistic expertise

Newsletters

expensive, little to no ads, info straight to business

Evaluation of Magazines

how good are they, circulation, total ads sold, quality, how popular is it, if an article is good and earns awards it usually reflects the author

Unholy Alliance

advertisers and readers linked so closely, writers forced to go along

Reader Usage Measure

Carefully controlled survey to ascertain positive and negative reactions, Different magazines grab groups in different ways, Great magazines have editors who know what their customers want

Henry Luce

takes Time fortune and starts Life: large photo pages, fiction

Massive Demassification

by 1971 all of these popular magazines were killed off by TV, TV offered a larger audience to advertisers, CPM

Narrower Focus Solution

products which appeal to mass audiences (detergent: things everyone needs) go to TV

Narrower Focus Response

Web Magazines

Digitalization

Instantly track sales through barcodes, help to fine-tune efficiency and see which titles are in demand, impulse buys decrease, cut down guaranteed audience, ad price decreases