chapter 5- magazines 

  • brief hist of magazines
      * possibly originated in china
      * 2 prominent colonial printers tried to duplicate the success of magazines in the New World
        * andrew bradford- the american weekly mercury (newspaper); american magazine (first one in US)
        * benjamin franklin- the general magazine etc
      * early magazine industry
        * saturday evening post (1821); cont for 148 years
          * norman rockwell’s paintings used as front cover
          * printed in same building as ben franklin’s magazine
        * harper’s (1850)
          * female centric; fashion
          * atlantic monthly (1857)
            * literature, history, arts
      * mass circulation era
        * postal act of 1879
          * act that makes it cheap to ship books, magazines, and newspapers
          * helped w circulation of all sorts of print media
        * railroad
          * fueled growth of mass circulation magazines
          * cheaper to transport, weight wasn’t the issue; made it easier to circulate
        * 1870s-magazines sold for as little as 10 and 15 cents
      * magazines were america’s first national mass medium
        * muckraing
          * search for and expose scandal, corruption, defend mass interest
      * the era of specialization
        * ww2 further urbanized and industrialized america; tv in colour began to compete w magazine for mass national audience
          * public- more leisure and money to spend
          * mag more specialized and lifestyle oriented
  • magazine advertising (circulation types)- types of circulation
      * magazines price advertising space in their pages based on circulation
      * controlled circulation
        * circulate various editions in certain markets, control who their audience is and what market to promote in
        * custom publishing
          * brand magazines
          * magalogues (on airplanes)
  • measuring circulation
      * 1914- audit bureau of circulations; provide reliability to announced circulation figures
        * 2012- name changed to alliance for audited media
      * 360 deg most recent measure of circulation
      * circulation data are augmented by measure of pass-along readership
  • trends and convergence in magazine publishing
      * new models of measurement will replace traditional methods
        * online magazines
        * becoming profitable
      * ads and copy
        * advertiser influence over magazine content
        * complementary copy
        * sponsored content and ad-pull policy
          * can include demand for an advance review copy of the magazine by advertiser
  • developing media literacy skills
      * recognizing the power of graphics
        * graphics and other artwork provide the background for interpreting stories