5

MagazinesThe Power of Words

and Images

Development of a National Culture

• Daniel Defoe: founded The Review, the first magazine in England, in

1704 looked just like the newspapers of the era covered public policy, literature, and morals

• Edward Cave Gentleman’s Magazine, was the first publication to

use word “magazine”

• Magazine—a periodical that contains articles of lasting interest: targeted at a specific audience derived income from advertising, subscriptions, and

newsstand sales intended for a broader geographic area than

newspapers increased as nationwide advertising grew in the

nineteenth century.

• Colonial Magazines: Publishers Andrew Bradford and Benjamin Franklin

engaged in a 1740 battle over editor John Webbe. Prior to 1800, magazines contained reprinted stories

from colonial papers and British magazines, instead of original content.

• The Saturday Evening Post: was first published on August 4, 1821 a year’s subscription cost two dollars contained essays, poetry, obituaries, stories, and a

column called “The Ladies’ Friend” was the first truly national medium had a circulation of more than 3 million in 1937 was unable to adapt and compete with television

• Photojournalism—the use of photographs to portray the news in print Halftone—a process in which photographs are broken

down into a series of dots that appear in shades of gray on the printed page

Mathew Brady—father of photojournalism:• Remembered for his pictures of the American

Civil War, photographed from beginning to end• Brady and assistants were the first journalists

to be “embedded”— with the Union army

The Magazine Business

• After the American civil war, magazines grew in popularity

• Postal Act of 1879—allowed periodicals to be mailed easily and inexpensively

• The Economics of Magazine Publishing: Consumer magazines—publications targeted at an

audience of like-minded consumers o in 2005—approximately 6,300 consumer

magazines o most visible and profitable

Trade magazines—published for people who work in a particular industry or business

• smaller, less colorful, and more specialized• account for 17 percent of the industry’s revenue

Literary and commentary magazines—publications that focus on serious essays and short fiction:

• examples are Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly• helped establish famous authors

• Political journals: The Nation:

• founded in 1865• discussed current affairs and civil rights.

The New Republic:• founded in 1914• promoted labor, civil rights, and antifascism

o both featured letters from readers as an interactive forum for discussion

o letters were central to the magazines’ content

The Crisis: o started in 1910 by W. E. B. DuBois.o official voice of the NAACP.o provided an outlet for black authors to publish.o leading voice against segregation in the South,

black education.o suspended publication in mid-1990s to develop a

new focus after losing original purpose.

• Muckrakers—progressive investigative journalists who published in magazines in the early years of the twentieth century: Mission to “Dig up dirt” Samuel S. McClure:

• sought to make a profit through the investigative articles he published in his magazine, McClure’s

Ida M. Tarbell: • reporter for McClure’s, investigated Standard Oil• five-year, fifteen-article series uncovered Standard Oil’s

use of bribes, fraud, and violence

• News Magazines: Time founded in 1923 by Henry Luce and Briton

Hadden • presents both sides of a story• indicates which side the magazine thinks is correct

Luce started Life magazine in 1936 • news through pictures • subscriptions skyrocketed• featured Margaret Bourke-White’s industrial photography

Luce started Sports Illustrated in 1954• currently sells 3.2 million copies a week

Women’s Magazines:

Began in 1830, when Louis Godey began publishing

Godey’s Lady’s Book: • edited by Sarah Josepha Hale from 1837 to 1877 • published and promoted women writers• promoted female causes

Women’s Magazines (cont.)

• The Seven Sisters: Service magazines—primarily contain articles

advising how to do things in a better way Good Housekeeping, McCall’s, Redbook, Ladies’

Home Journal, Woman’s Day, Better Homes and Gardens, and Family Circle

Reduced to six in 2001; McCall’s ceased publication, renamed Rosie

• shut down in December 2002

• Fashion/Beauty/Lifestyle Magazines: read by 40 million women every month Vogue (1892) has long been the leading fashion

magazine Cosmopolitan

• pioneering editor, Helen Gurley Brown, aimed to help the “mouseburgers”

• current editor, Bonnie Fuller, focused on more serious issues

• thirty-six international editions published

• Men’s Magazines: Esquire

• founded in 1933• published prominent writers• featured risqué pinups, considered a morale booster

during World War II and the Korean conflict Playboy

• first appeared in 1953 as a competitor to Esquire • started by Hugh Hefner for less than $7,000 • promoted the sexually free good life

Maxim—the rebirth of men’s magazines • launched in April 1997 • offers a blend of sex, sports, and humor • tries to meet the needs of the “inner guy”• features short articles; attracts a great deal of fashion

and gadget advertising

Magazines and Modern Society

• Magazines and Body Image in 1972, 23 percent of U.S. women dissatisfied with

their overall appearance:• by 1996, grown to 48 percent• critics charge the ultra-thin models to blame

Mode, a fashion magazine targeted at women size 12 and above—the average-sized women

o failed due to lack of advertisers

Modern Ads Tackling the Body Image Issue: • Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign (2003)• Nike’s “Big Butts” and “Thunder Thighs” ads (2005)

Images of Reality: • We—intended for people with disabilities• Mamm—intended for women with cancer• Poz—intended for people who are HIV-positive

Who’s in Control? Advertising versus Editorial

• Synergy and Magazines: Models promoting their own interests and those of

their sponsors

• The Blurring of Advertising and Editorial Content Advertorials—advertising material in magazines

designed to look like editorial content rather than paid advertising

• not always identified by magazines• used to promote favored advertisers

• Censorship and Teen Magazines: in 1998 a New York school district removed

Seventeen, Teen, and YM from the middle school library

concern over sex and health columns

Dick Stolley, founding editor of People, established the following rules for covers:

1. Young is better than old.

2. Pretty is better than ugly.

3. Rich is better than poor.

4. Music is better than movies

5. Movies are better than television.

6. Nothing is better than a dead celebrity.

The Importance of Magazine Covers

In 2002, less than 20 percent of magazines covers featured people of color.

Halle Berry:• featured on the cover of Cosmopolitan in December 2002• fifth black person on magazine’s cover since 1964

Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue:• as of 2006, has featured only one woman of color on the

cover (Tyra Banks in1997)

O magazine always features Oprah Winfrey on the cover

Covers and Race

• Coverlines—teaser headlines used to shock, intrigue, or titillate potential buyers goal is to appeal to as many readers as possible designed to grab attention

The Future of Magazines

• Magazines for the Twenty-first Century Leara D. Rhodes’ elements of successful

magazines:

1. Building a relationship between the magazine and its readers

2. Providing information readers can’t easily find other places

3. Adapting to social changes4. Being supported by advertisers5. Adjusting to economic changes and limitations6. Shaping public discourse by defining the major

issues of society

• Current trends in magazine publishing: magazines are targeting narrower audiences presentation is important articles are short

• Cross-media Synergy magazines complementing other media

• example—ESPN and ESPN Magazine

Internet-exclusive magazines• few are successful (Salon and Slate)• magazines’ Web sites are popular