chapter 11 Magazines

Magazines Martha Nelson: managing editor of people People started in 1974 mostly presenting interesting stories about regular people. Now mostly covers celebrities. Time Inc.?s biggest moneymaker, with $1.5 billion in ad revenues. Web site offers updates through the week. Avoiding rumors and gossips has earned the respect of celebrities covered in People. U.S. Magazines in the 1800s Contributed to a U.S. sense of nationhood by featuring short stories and serialized novels about the American experience. Were an early national advertising medium The roll of railroads Nationally distributed goods created a need for national ad media. Railroads also distributed the magazines. The Postal Act of 1879 Est. discounted postal rates for magazines A recognition by Congress of magazine?s role in creating a national culture and promoting literacy. Generally the magazine audience is better educated and has a higher income. About 12,000 magazine titles on the market today. 500 to 600 new magazines launched each year. Only 20% of these last at least 3 years. Innovations of Magazines Investigative Reporting The term ?muckraking? was coined by Theodore Roosevelt. The magazine credited with developing extensive personality profiles was New Yorker. The magazine that first showed the potential for the use of photographs was National geographic. Types of Magazines Customer magazines The most visible category The majority of consumer magazines heavily depends on advertising. Parade has the largest circulation of any U.S. magazine PARADE 35.4 MILLION USA WEEKEND 22.4 MILLION READER?S DIGEST 11 MILLION TV GUIDE 11 MILLION Life Magazine brought photojournalism to new importance in the 1930s with photographers like Margaret Bourke. Various types of consumer magazine: Newsmagazines Newspaper Supplements Women?s Magazines Men?s magazines Highbrow Sticks--- thought provoking material on politics, economics, social issues, the arts and cultural issues. Conservative: weekly standard, national review Liberal: Nation Iconoclastic titles challenge conventional thought: New Republic Comic books Even though consumer magazines are the most visible type of magazine, there are actually more sponsored magazines and trade journals. Sponsored Magazines Published by a sponsoring organization and not available on newsstands. Examples: AARP the Magazine, Going Places (AAA), Smithsonian. Trade Journals Often are designed to look like consumer magazines Some are criticized for editorial content that appears like promotional pieces for the industries they report. Newsletters No advertising Supported by subscriptions and are very expensive Some are moving toward subscription Web sites. Examples Kiplinger Washington Letter Food Chemical Media Conglomerates A reader should know the publisher?s other media endeavors. Can include movie studios, other magazines, cable networks, and more. Recognize self-serving content. From General Interest to Demassification The decline of the giant mass audience magazines like Life and Look was blamed mostly on TV. The answer was special-interest magazines that could deliver a specific targeted audience to an advertiser. Magazines face competition in the delivery of specialized audiences from cable TV and direct mail. Evaluating Magazines RUM: Reader Usage Measure Introduced in 2003 Measures readers? reactions to a particular magazine by getting their response to a series of questions. Provides ? a quantitative measure of qualitative information? Magazines on the Web Two Main Approaches A supplement to the magazine that gives value-added to the regular readers. A sampler that encourages subscriptions to the print product.