Magazines: The 1 st of the Specialized Media  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Chapter Outline  History  Industry  Controversies

 The First Magazines  Appeared in Germany in 1663, ▪ Targeted elite, literate audience.  The first two magazines in America, ▪ American Magazine & General Magazine,  Six months later both magazines had failed ▪ Magazines were seen as a luxury ▪ Not like books or newspapers  By 1776, a hundred magazines had started and failed.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Ladies’ Magazine - special interest magazine ▪ Began publishing in 1828, under Sarah Josepha Hale ▪ Focused on Women’s Interests, issues & rights  Ladies’ Magazine – ▪ Predecessor for Ladies’ Home Journal, founded in 1883 ▪ Expanded the area of women’s interests ▪ to include sheet music and popular fiction.  The first magazine to achieve a mass audience was ▪ The Saturday Evening Post.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Early 1900s magazines and newspapers crusaded for social reform. ▪ Magazines, most effective in providing in-depth investigations.  McClure’s Magazine ▪ Attacked the monopolistic practices of Standard Oil ▪ Exposed municipal corruption in several cities. ▪ Other magazines began to follow suit.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Muckraking – Investigative Journalism – Video Clip Video Clip ▪ Articles led to child labor laws, ▪ Workers compensation ▪ First congressional investigations.  Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 ▪ Passed because of the influence of muckraking reporting.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Consumer Magazines  Lets name a couple of each  News Magazines  Women’s Magazines  Men’s Magazines  Hobby Magazines  Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2009

 Mass Circulation Magazines  Cultural magazines ▪ The New Yorker, ▪ Style magazines, ▪ Pulps such as True Confessions.  Reader’s Digest, featured brief versions of articles ▪ Informative, well-written, ▪ Stressed conservative middle class values.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The first news magazine was Time, ▪ Originated the terms “photojournalism,” and “photo essay.”  Golden age of photojournalism began in 1930s ▪ 35mm Leica camera allowed photographers to move with the action  Golden age lasted until general-interest magazines declined in the 1960’s (What led to his decline?)  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 America’s only national medium until the 1920s, ▪ Before radio networks were established.  1960s advertisers moved to television ▪ To reach wider, more diverse audiences  As U. S. became more culturally diverse ▪ Ethnic and business magazines flourished  What are some magazines that cater to special interest groups ▪ (Ethnic, Cultural, Social, etc)  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Adapting to New Media  Magazines adapted to competition from new media. ▪ Movies popularity led to magazines about movies.  Playboy ▪ Makes more from cable & broadcast than magazines.  Magazines publish content on the Internet ▪ Cheaper because of no investments in paper, ink, or presses, ▪ No printing over runs or under runs, or postal rates. ▪ Interactivity with readers that is appealing to advertisers.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Types of Magazines – Pg 129  Major Types of Consumer Magazines – Pg 130  Top magazines by revenue – Pg 131  Top Magazines by Circulation – Pg 132  The Magazine staff – Pg 135  Top Magazine Covers – Pg 139  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Consumer Magazines ▪ Target members of the buying public  Trade magazines ▪ Focus on a particular business for people in those businesses. ▪ Can you think of any examples  Public relations magazines ▪ Put out by organizations, corporations, and institutions ▪ Sole intent of making their parent organization look good.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Professional journals ▪ Periodicals for doctors, lawyers, engineers and professionals ▪ Expensive, cost up to $14,919 a year. ▪ Libraries cutting back on to save money. ▪ Reinvesting in digital online databases instead.  Little magazines ▪ Publishes promising and established poets and authors ▪ Include The Antioch Review and The Paris Review  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Comic books ▪ Little advertising, smaller revenue stream than other magazines. ▪ Have been an important part of American culture. ▪ Any comic book readers in here? Which ones?  Zines ▪ Small, inexpensive publications - specific, usually obscure, topic. ▪ Important part of the beat/hippie movement of the 50s and 60s.  Today, many Zines exist only on the Web. ▪ blogs are an online version of what Zines use to be.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Players  Many publishers are  Entrepreneurs ▪ Deep interest in the topic, small amount of money, high tolerance for risk.  Celebrity founded magazines ▪ O, The Oprah Magazine - one of the most successful ▪ Rosie - folded after dispute between Rosie O’Donnell and corporate parent.  Supermarket chains have been corporate publishers ▪ Family Circle (Piggly Wiggly) and Women’s Day (A&P).  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Staff  Editor, editor-in-chief, or executive editor ▪ In charge of the magazine’s overall direction.  Magazine editors ▪ Work mostly with freelance writers ▪ Only the largest magazines have primarily full time writers.  Contributing editor ▪ Magazine’s highest paid freelance writers. ▪ Tom Wolfe, a well-known and highly respected author, is a contributing editor at Harper’s.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Advertisers/Advertising ▪ Need the magazine to enhance its product sales and overall image. ▪ Magazine needs the advertiser for content as well as income. ▪ Sales staffs sell the personality/worth of the reader to advertisers.  The circulation department ▪ Responsible for finding and keeping subscribers, ▪ Manages the subscriber list, Promote single-copy sales. ▪ Publishers also rely on subscription fulfillment companies ▪ Publishers Clearing House, etc ▪ (people knocking on your door trying to sell you magazines)  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The production department ▪ Coordinates the actual printing of the magazines  The publicist’s job is to make headlines ▪ (in newspapers, radio, television and Internet news services) ▪ With news from the cover of the magazine’s current issue.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Reader  Industry Claims ▪ About 90% of US adults read 12 issues a month on average, ▪ More education/income means more magazines people read.  Magazines have a healthy pass-along circulation, ▪ Several more people than the original buyer/subscriber read them. ▪ (Where would you read a magazine that someone else bought)  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Magazines define the ideal female beauty ▪ What do think some of these standards are?  As magazines continue to promote these standards ▪ Women are increasingly unhappy with their bodies.  Critics insist that men’s ideas about women ▪ Are shaped by images such as Playboy’s centerfold ▪ Editorial content such as Penthouse Forum.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Outline of a Normal Woman’s Body versus Outline of a Model’s Body  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Credibility is a magazine’s primary asset, even in an industry that includes National Enquirer. ▪ Does anyone read the supermarket tabloids? Which ones?  Legally, magazines are expected to be more diligent about truth and accuracy than daily newspapers ▪ Because magazines have a longer time to work on stories and check facts.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Editorial independence ▪ A magazine’s independence from advertisers, ▪ Independence from those it writes about or supply it with information.  History of separating advertising and editorial ▪ Ms., Mad, Consumer Reports, and Consumers Digest ▪ Take no ads, and Reader’s Digest refuses all cigarette ads.  The Saturday Evening Post, ▪ In final days promised to feature Henry Ford on its cover ▪ In exchange for $400,000 worth of Ford advertising.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Magazines and subscription fulfillment companies ▪ Seek innovative ways to sell. ▪ What are interesting ways people have tried to sell you magazines  Direct-mail used deception with fake million dollar check.  Elders subscribe to magazines they can’t afford on fixed incomes.  Critics and the courts agreed that this practice was unethical. ▪ Publisher’s Clearing House reimbursed subscribers $18 million, ▪ Reader’s Digest was forced to return $8 million, ▪ Time Magazine was forced to refund nearly $5 million ▪ To customers who were fooled.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Bring 1-2 magazines of your choice to class on Wednesday for a class activity  Make sure you write down what magazines you brought or have your name on them so you can take them after class.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved