Sunday, February 28, 2016

Quick points about magazines (relating to chapter 4 in our textbook)

More notes--for my MCOM 101 class at EHC--on magazines (SOME OF THIS MAY NOT BE IN CHAPTER 4, BUT IT’S STILL IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW). Be sure, too, that you've read closely my previous blog post (also dated Feb. 28) on magazines. This will help guide your study of this key branch of mass communication.


1. What is a magazine? 
A publication of lasting interest targeted at a specific audience. A collection of articles and photos.

2. The Saturday Evening Post
•First published in 1821
•First truly national medium
•Post remained important until the coming of television

3. Birth of Photojournalism
•Photographer Mathew Brady first became famous for portraits, Civil War photography team.
•By 1864, Harper’s Weekly was reproducing his team’s photos.
•Promoted idea that photographs could be published documents preserving history.

4. Types of Magazines
•Consumer magazines. 
Publications targeting an audience of like-minded consumers
•Trade magazines
. Magazines published for people who work in an industry or business
•Literary magazines. 
Publications that focus on serious essays and short fiction

5. Literary and Commentary Magazines
•Atlantic, New Republic, Nation
. Serious publications with progressive orientation published since the 1800s.
•National Review
. Conservative response to New Republic and Nation by William F. Buckley.
•Crisis
. Published by NAACP to give voice to African Americans.

6. The Muckrakers
•Progressive investigative journalists writing in the late 1800s, early 1900s
•McClure’s
--Popular reform-oriented muckraking magazine featuring work by Ida Tarbell.

7. Henry Luce & Birth of Time Life
•Luce developed idea of Time magazine in early 1920s to present the week’s news in context.
•Followed by Fortune covering business
•Life magazine presented the news through photos, featured work of Margaret Bourke-White.

8. Women’s Magazines
•Many of them tend to be Service magazines—about how to do things better, have better nutrition or health, improve your cooking, fashion, chances for employment
•FBL – Fashion, beauty, lifestyle. 
Vogue, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar
•Cosmopolitan--
Global magazine for young women, focus on unmarried women

9. Men’s Magazines
•1933: Esquire
. Literature, pinups, and fashion for an intelligent readership.
•1953: Playboy. 
Pictures and a lifestyle.

10. Magazines and Body Image
•Critics charge that magazines and ads present excessively thin models.

11. Advertising vs. Editorial Control
•Conflict between advertising and editorial departments.
Magazines, models, and sponsors work together to match ads with stories about models and the products they endorse.
•Blurring of ads and editorial content
Ads can be made to look like magazine content.

12. Covers and Race
•American magazines rarely feature non-whites on cover.
•In 2002, less than 20 percent of magazine covers featured people of color.
•As of 2009, Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue had featured only two women of color on the cover.
•But may be changing; teen music magazines often have non-whites on covers.

13. Current Trends in Magazine Publishing
•Targeting narrower audiences.
•Presentation matters; layout and graphics critical.
•Articles are short; busy readers with short attention spans.
•Cross-media synergy; using magazines to support other channels of communication.

Quick/Snappy Quiz Questions on Chap.4. YOU MIGHT SEE THESE QUESTIONS AGAIN ON A QUIZ/TEST IN CLASS)

1. TRUE or FALSE? The Saturday Evening Post was the first magazine that reached a large public or wide national audience of readership.

2. What genre or category of magazines are published for people who work in a particular industry or business?

3. Who was the editor of The Crisis?
A. Langston Hughes
B. Booker T. Washington
C. Benjamin Harris
D. W.E.B. DuBois

4. Fashion and beauty magazines have taken criticism recently for their portrayal of what?

5. Name four magazines that are especially targeted for women.

6. If you wanted to be a writer for a magazine what department would you likely work in?

7. Name an example of a point-of-purchase magazine.

8. Name three magazines that are especially targeted for men.

9. True or False? By 2013, Wired was the number one digital magazine in America.

10. True or False? Each issue of a magazine, according to the Magazine Publishers Association, has at least four adult readers on average.

11. What kind audience was The Crisis (magazine) targeted for?

12. True or False? Benjamin Franklin published one of America’s first magazines.

13. What is Conde Nast?
A. Head of a multimedia corporation based in South Africa
B. Magazine publisher
C. CEO of Gannett Magazine
D. None of these choices


Here's a quick look at some of the world's most powerful and most famous photographs. Many, if not all of them, appeared in magazines:




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