Magazine Journalism

Tim Holmes, Liz Nice

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781847870308, 9781847870292
• eBook ISBN: 9781446292037
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

"For those of us who long ago experienced the magazine love-bite and have been battling the prejudice and scant attention shown this beautiful medium ever since, here at last is the book to set the record straight."
- Nicholas Brett, Deputy Managing Director, BBC Magazines

"At a time when magazines are undergoing active redefinition, this book represents a welcome intervention. It engages with a host of pressing issues in a manner alert to professional priorities while, at the same time, encouraging new ways of thinking about the challenges shaping this fast-moving field. Holmes and Nice are trustworthy guides, taking the reader on what proves to be a fascinating journey."
- Stuart Allan, Professor of Journalism, Bournemouth University

Magazines are the most successful media format ever to have existed: so begins Magazine Journalism as it traces how magazines arose from their earliest beginnings in 1665 to become the ubiquitous format we know today. This book combats the assumptions among media academics as well as journalists that magazines somehow don?t count, and presents a compelling assessment of the development and innovation at the heart of magazine publishing.

In magazines we find some of the key debates in journalism, from the genesis of ?marketing to the reader? to feminist history, subcultures and tabloidization. Embedding these questions in a thoroughly historical framework, Holmes and Nice argue for an understanding of magazine journalism as essential in the media landscape.

Moving beyond the semiotic and textual analysis so favoured by critics of the past, the authors complete the story with an exploration of the production and consumption of magazines. Drawing on interviews with more than 30 magazine journalists across the industry, what emerges is a story of resilience, innovation and a unique ability to embrace new markets and readerships.

Magazine Journalism takes the reader to the heart of key questions in the past, present and future of journalism and is essential reading for students across journalism and the creative industries.

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MAGAZINES: A HISTORICAL SURVEY

Magazines are the most successful media format ever to have existed.

This is a big claim when the apparent dominance of television in the last 50 years or the printed book across the last 500 are considered, but magazines are so ubiquitous and their consumption so engrained in habit that their importance almost ceases to register and is thus overlooked. As Buckminster Fuller once noted in a broadcast lecture, people place importance on food and water as the sustainers of life but on a day-to-day basis it’s actually air that we consume most. That is our biggest fuel. Like air, magazines play an often disregarded part in our quotidian existence: the pleasure they bring, and the ways in which they bring it, give them a social value; their ability to influence patterns of behaviour or consumption or aesthetics a cultural one; and their role as educators and informers an intellectual one. What is more, when the magazine is in printed form this is achieved at a readily-attainable cost – and in the age of the internet the cost of consumption is sometimes zero.

Yet compared with other cultural products such as television, newspapers, cinema and radio, magazines have generally not been taken seriously by either the (self-professedly) more high-minded ‘fourth estate’ branches of the journalism industries or the academy. ‘Academic disciplines have almost routinely concentrated on the other legs of the print triad [i.e., newspapers and books]’ notes American media scholar Dorothy Schmidt, ‘... but scant attention is given to the continuing role of magazines as reflectors and molders of public opinion and political and social attitudes’ (Schmidt 1989: 648, in Abrahamson 1996b: 4). Laurel Brake argues that magazine journalism was not highly regarded in the nineteenth century, ‘... the low status of periodical literature is associated with many of the same factors which figure in the feeble welcome Victorian critics accorded the novel’ (1994: 30), and in the twentieth century Liesbet van Zoonen observed that the ‘traditional press’ perceived magazine publishing as one of the ‘low-status fields of journalism’ (1998b: 39).

Academics studying journalism often use the word ‘magazine’ almost as an unthinking pejorative; Chambers et al. (2004) note that women are concentrated in ‘sectors considered to be “soft” news ... and the delivery of a magazine-style of journalism’ (p. 1) but later concede that ‘In Britain, periodicals played a vital role during the women’s suffrage movement ...’ (p. 152).

The landmark study of Journalists at Work by Jeremy Tunstall revealed that consumer magazines were:

... believed by many other journalists to be an extension of the advertising world rather than of journalism. The trade and technical magazines are a separate world again, with each one oriented primarily to the interest or industry which provides not only its readers and its advertising but also its news sources. (1971: 11)

John Hartley captures this tension when he contrasts serious journalism (‘the profession of violence’) with the ‘smiling professions’ that include lifestyle and consumer journalism and states, ‘They are routinely despised by serious journalists’. Yet when it comes to a likely future direction for journalism as a whole, ‘the magazine sector has been leading the way for at least the past decade’ (2000: 40, 45).

Encouragingly, the latter idea has been picked up by other media researchers. John Tulloch (2000) identifies magazines as ‘the main source of the innovations in the publishing industry that created the modern popular press’ (p. 139), while Martin Conboy (2004) flags up ‘the ability of magazines to influence the mainstream of journalism’ (p. 162) and acknowledges that they have been ‘heralds of social and cultural change’ (p. 163).

The very word ‘magazine’ calls forth a variety of responses. It might connote a thick, luxurious, women’s glossy or a throwaway weekly gossip sheet. It could just as easily be connected with a favourite hobby as with a profession. Perhaps it may be associated with a supermarket or a satellite television provider. Magazines are all of these things and more – they cover an incalculable range of subject matter, styles and modes of delivery. They give pleasure to millions, information to millions more, and frequently manage to marry pleasure and information in a way that is unique to the form. This combination of a kaleidoscopic nature, the provision of pleasure and an ability to evolve, adapt and survive has led to the axiom that opened this chapter: magazines are the most successful media form ever to have existed.

And yet even this straightforward magazine history remains a surprisingly neglected area, considering the magazine has had a fundamental and intrinsic influence on publishing history. Conboy (2004: 163) notes the ‘cross pollination’ process by which newspapers have appropriated magazine formats and genres – the transmission of aesthetics – while Rooney (2000: 107) has enlivened current debates about tabloidisation and dumbing down by considering whether ‘tabloidisation’ might in fact amount to a ‘magazinization’, although that argument implies a certain view of what magazines are and what they do (Tulloch, 2000: 139). Historical parallels with current journalistic practises have been observed at least as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century – for example the concepts of ‘targeting’ the reader, relying on reader contributions, and involving the reader with ‘competitions, special offers and inducements to buy’ (Beetham and Boardman, 2001), while as far back as the seventeenth century women’s periodicals have been seen to provide an early (if fleeting) forum for disenfranchised women ‘of lower and middle rank’ to participate in ‘an alternative and competing public sphere’ (Halasz, 1997, in Conboy, 2004: 129).

The histories of newspapers and magazines have been closely entwined down the years and although there are obvious similarities – until very recently both could accurately be described as material that was printed on paper and issued at regular intervals – there are also significant practical and cultural differences in their production. According to James Playsted Wood (1956), ‘The English newspaper developed in the late seventeenth century out of the political pamphlet and the newsletter. The English magazine developed out of the newspaper within less than fifty years after the first newspaper was founded’. Wood credits Daniel (Robinson Crusoe) Defoe with founding ‘what is usually ... described as the first magazine in English’. In 1704 Defoe was serving a sentence in Newgate prison for writing and circulating The Shortest Way With Dissenters, a religious tract, but these circumstances did not prevent him from starting the Review and publishing it weekly. This periodical printed not only news but also articles on ‘domestic affairs and national policy’ and it survived until 1712 (Wood, 1956: 3–4).

However, while the Review may have incorporated the miscellaneous content characteristics of the magazine form, an equally strong argument could be made for the Ladies Mercury of 1693. Not only did this publication contain a miscellany of material (ostensibly generated from questions sent in by readers) it also targeted a very specific readership – women. Amongst other topics, Ladies promised to help readers with ‘all questions relating to Love etc’ (Ballaster et al., 1991: 47).

Neither the Review nor the Ladies Mercury used the word ‘magazine’ in their titles, and this was not widely adopted to describe a particular form of print publication until 1741, when Edward Cave first published the Gentleman’s Magazine. There had been magazine-like periodicals published in the UK before then, among them the Athenian Mercury (1690), a forerunner of the Ladies Mercury, and then the Tatler (1709) and Spectator (1711). Although the latter was a daily publication it was considered a literary journal rather than a newspaper, rather as the Economist currently describes itself as a newspaper rather than a magazine.

Media historians (Davis, 1988; Wharton, 1992; Reed, 1997) tend to name the Journal des Scavans, published in Paris in 1665, as the first ‘magazine’ on the grounds that it contained a miscellany of content that made it metaphorically like a storehouse (magazin means shop in French and the word derives from the Arabic work for storehouse – makhazin). The Journal, an adjunct to publishers’ booklists, contained digests of books, writers’ obituaries and bibliographies – a formula copied for the English Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious in 1682. However, like most historical ‘firsts’ it is a useful starting point rather than a definitive genesis: Morrish (2003: 5) argues that Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (1663) has a claim to be the first magazine, while Tony Quinn of Magforum.com goes back to 1586 with Gynasceum, sive Theatrum Mulierum ... (The Gynasceum or Theatre of Women, in which are reproduced by engraving the female costumes of all the nations of Europe) published in Frankfurt.

As with ‘What was the first?’, the more general question ‘What is a magazine?’ has been asked many times in the past and, as we will see, continues to be asked today. The answers are many and varied, involve both logic and emotion, invoke both history and prediction, and leave us just as uncertain after we have heard them as we were before we raised this query. Until recently, common sense (that dangerous quality) had allowed us to believe we knew what the term ‘magazine’ meant; according to Frank Luther Mott, pre-eminent historian of the medium, the magazine is a ‘bound pamphlet issued more or less regularly ... containing a variety of reading matter and ... a strong connotation of entertainment’ (1930: 7). Furthermore Fred and Nancy Paine devote 690 pages to listing sources of information about magazines but still conclude, ‘for all that magazines have been studied, analyzed, and written about, their number and purposes remain as elusive as their precise definition’ (Paine and Paine, 1987: 15). The Periodical Publishers Association (PPA), trade body for the magazine industry in the UK, offers a definition on its website that takes us into all kinds of areas:

Magazine. (noun)

The word ‘magazine’ describes branded, edited content often supported by advertising or sponsorship and delivered in print or other forms. Traditionally, magazines have been printed periodicals which are most commonly published weekly, monthly or quarterly. These may be supported by printed one-off supplements and annual directories. Increasingly, magazines exist online where content is available through websites or in digital editions, or delivered by email as an electronic newsletter. Many magazine brands also deliver tailored information services to their audiences. Magazine brands also engage with their audiences face-to-face by organising exhibitions, conferences and other events. (www.ppa.co.uk/all-about-magazines/what-is-a-magazine/; accessed 21/5/10)

Barry McIlheney, chairman of the PPA, added his own opinion in an interview with InPublishing Magazine (July/August 2010). Having been recently appointed to the post, he was keen to explain his thoughts on the PPA’s role, the essential nature of a magazine and its independence from any particular substrate:

It’s not just about saying magazines are great, but promoting high quality editorial content with a magazine heritage delivered across any platform. It sounds a mouthful, but I’m talking about the unique mix of words and pictures and the relationship with the consumer that ‘magazine’ means, and that’s a mix that doesn’t just have to be delivered via paper and ink. (www.inpublishing.co.uk/kb/articles/barry_mcilheney_interview.aspx)

Nevertheless, as far as print was concerned, for a long time it was possible to accept a working definition that stated a magazine ‘should contain articles or stories by different authors, and that it should be published at regular intervals, which can be any period longer than a day’ (Davis, 1988: 3). This was sufficiently flexible to allow for the examination of a wide range of publications while still acknowledging the etymology of the name, which could be understood to be ‘descriptive of the publication’s content rather than its format’ (Paine and Paine, 1987 : 10).

However, using frequency as part of the definition (claiming that a magazine cannot be published daily or, rather, that anything published daily is de facto not a magazine) simply raises another set of questions following the emergence of newspaper supplements such as the Guardian’s G2, which calls itself a daily magazine, and newspapers that have adopted magazinelike, highly designed story treatments (Portugal’s daily i is an excellent example of this – see http://timholmes.blogspot.com/2009/11/newspaper-news-magazine-aesthetic-i.html). We also face a problem that Davis and the Paines did not – the regularly updated digital manifestations of print titles – leading to the conclusion that frequency can no longer be considered a reliable or unproblematic indicator.

And neither can physical form or appearance. The magazine has moved on from paper and is now found on the internet as a website, on mobile phones as a WAP-site, on smartphones as an app, and in other evolving forms and formats that will change with advances in technology. Furthermore, it does not take much cultural exploration to encounter an ever-expanding range of postmodern artefacts that will push the boundaries of what anyone thought a magazine could be. For example:

• Pop-Up calls itself ‘the world’s first live magazine, created for a stage, a screen, and a live audience ... Pop-Up showcases the country’s most interesting writers, documentary filmmakers, photographers, and radio producers, together, on stage, sharing short moments of unseen, unheard work. Books, films, journalism, photography, and radio documentaries in progress. Obsessions and digressions. Outtakes, arguments, and live interviews ... An issue exists for one night, in one place.’ (www.popup-magazine.com/about_us.html; accessed 20/5/10)
• Rotary Magazine was a project that used 200 miscellaneous slides and a slide projector, all purchased from eBay. After organising the most interesting slides from the collection and creating typographic slides to complement them, the editors projected Rotary Magazine issue 1 to give ‘an alternative browsing experience, allowing many people to view at the same time and at their own pace. As the magazine was projected this also meant no paper or printing was necessary for viewing, resulting in a more sustainable outcome.’ (www.jackmaxwell.co.uk/index.php?/work/rotary/;accessed 20/5/10)
• 48 Hour magazine was more conventional inasmuch as it resulted in a printed product, but the whole project was, as the name suggests, put together in a 48 hour period beginning on 7 May 2010. The editors revealed a theme and contributions were crowdsourced (i.e. invited from all-comers). Not only did the idea work, after publication the magazine was granted a degree of legitimacy when it received a cease-and-desist letter from the American broadcasting company CBS claiming to own the rights to the name ‘48 Hours’ for its television magazine programme. (48hrmag.com;accessed 20/5/10)

Are these artefacts magazines? Professor Samir Husni (a leading scholar of magazines also known as ‘Mr Magazine’), of the University of...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Magazines: A Historical Survey
• 2 The Political Economy of Magazines
• 3 The Magazine Workforce
• 4 Skills and Policy Developments
• 5 Contemporary Practices
• 6 The International Perspective
• 7 Theorising the Field
• 8 Future Directions
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index