Magazines as a Curated Source of Information and Entertainment
Deep coverage of topics: Magazines are famous for being the best source for deep coverage of a topic. And I mean really deep. The publishers of magazines have traditionally known that there’s a desire for lengthy, insightful reading material to provide readers with a more fulfilling experience than a swift scan of a search engine results, a fleeting Facebook article, or a Twitter post. So, instead of a piece filled with superficial one-liners – based on dubious ‘expert’ opinions, or a summary of comments left on another site – magaziness excels by dedicating pages of content and length to share insightful background information, enlightening interviews and a longer analysis of complex issues. Readers get a richer and more nuanced picture because they get the depth, the detail and the discussion. They do not just get a shallow, one-dimensional report or cursory first-go investigation or commentary. Deep coverage takes time on readers’ part – but magazines also take time on the part of publishers, writers and editors. It’s worth taking the time to write about something deeply, rather than skimming a topic shallowly. I’ll never tire of reading and writing pieces with depth, and will always strive to do so Dynamic, creative narratives: Magazines are the place for great writing. Of course, advertisers and others want that too. However, off-the-shelf ‘content’ rarely strives to be anything other than filler. It is something to sit between or under an advert. A piece produced, transmitted or published solely for the sake of meeting the specification of an advertisement or client’s account manager. But writes J B Rockwell in The Harvard Guide to Poetry (2017): This fragmented information, packaged as ‘content’ … simply doesn’t leave room for genuinely creative work. It’s not good enough to launch a beautiful mobile app with ‘informed’, ‘compelling,’ ‘immersive’, ‘experiences’. Deep-information content requires time. The space it demands, the ability it gives you to see how the details all connect, cannot be inserted on a computer.
Strong editorial: Given the trend listed above, it is no surprise that magazines are valued for their editorial quality. This is why editors matter in magazines: editors make editorial decisions, and especially in the magazine world, they are senior, experienced editors that either have been around a long time or have learned from people who have been around a long time. There are experienced writers involved as well. Junior employees rarely write articles unless they are being mentored or have a clear track record. We in the magazine world bring life experience to our jobs. People write for us because they want to be associated with a good magazine and cannot be in a magazine without good writers and editors. Magazines are editorial businesses. They are edited. So good people run a filter over everything that comes our way. Deals might not always go through the way we’d like, but overall we project a clear agenda. The editorial process means that there is a largely uniform voice in a magazine, and that constant voice makes the publication’s brand stronger. Magazines are a brand. They are a name you can trust. Online, the originator of a piece of writing can’t always be discerned, so one doesn’t know what to trust. Online, accuracy often takes a backseat to speed.
Niche appeal and targeted audiences: Magazines can diversify the landscape of the print realm in ways that cannot be replicated online. Magazine readership is defined by an infinite diversity of interests and demographics, and a corresponding diversity of specialised publications. There’s a magazine out there for just about any topic a person might feel like reading about, from newsstand standbys to the most idiosyncratic fringe. This specialisation means that readers are more likely than ever to encounter content specifically aimed at their interests. Niche publications – enabled by print’s economies of scale – can afford to go deep on topics that general news outlets would have to sweep the surface of. Their audiences might be small, but they’re passionate and dedicated. The small size of these audiences is precisely what makes them such valuable targets for advertisers looking to reach certain consumer segments. ‘It seems as if Internet-only media have done a good job imitating paper magazines and physical newspapers. But the undeniable truth is that print magazines, displaying an infinite variety of media forms and specialising in focused communities, are still incredibly valuable’ Niche appeal and targeted audiences.
Tangible and haptic: Magazines are physical entities and therefore offer an experience that digital cannot replicate. People experience magazines through their eyes of course, but also through their fingertips: the quality of the paper, how pages are laid out, the elegance of design and even the smell of a new magazine all play into an experience where form and content meet and show an awareness of aesthetics that might be outmoded online where the emphasis is often on monotonous, endless scrolling. Magazines are also perceived as more likely to be things to collect and keep – a lot of people who buy magazines keep them for years, often referring back to them again and again to refresh their memories, whereas online content – once it is consumed – is lost forever. The way that magazines look and feel enables advertisers to create ads that are as stunning visually as they are appealing in the way they play on the reader’s haptic sense, through format, perfume or even the feel of the pages on the fingertips. Magazines, physical objects in a non-physical world, are a valued addition to a reader’s home. All of these things combined might seem like a weak answer to the question of magazines’ continued survival, particularly in the face of a consumer (and therefore advertising) migration to mobile. Surely these days it is clearly the screen that prevails over print (for reading, at least)? If reading, downloading, writing, filming and communicating via the screen is the future of consumption, where does it leave print?
The Cultural and Societal Impact of Magazines
Influencing public opinion and cultural trends: Magazines have a long history of syphoning out the salient cultural developments and circulating them to a relatively large audience, thereby earning their status as opinion-makers and culture-definers. Although it would be an exaggeration to suggest that magazines have ever been the single arbiter of taste, they did have a way of pushing nations’ consciousnesses in certain directions through their hold over popularity and therefore the availability and marketability of items. Over the generations, fashion magazines have dictated clothing styles and beauty products while political magazines have defined frontier issues and political positions on them. The remit of influence often came quite literally from the framework of coverage given by journalists. Magazines tended to ‘pick up on’ what they saw elsewhere, publish it in syndicated formats, and set the agenda for other media covering the same story or interview. Lifestyle Magazines are seen as the trend-setting powerhouse in our media-flooded world. With certain lifestyle and fashion magazines, the insects have nothing on Bill Blass in terms of the power of editorial exposure. Features sometimes turn items into overnight successes.
A Stage for Diverse Voices: Magazines have served as a stage to represent the diverse voices of communities for long. Increased diversity and visibility is one of the vital way one can broaden one’s perspective be it professionally or personally. There are a number of community based (by race, gender, interest groups) magazines in circulation where topics specific to the concerned communities are covered. Ensuring diverse voices in magazines helps in allaying prejudice and hence a more equitable media. The inclusion of diverse voices is not only in terms of the topics, but also in the staff. These publications have diverse staff having a wide range of experience from different ages to diverse demographics. The inclusion of the diverse voices in magazines helps to counter stereotypes and acts as a bridge among different parts of society. The need for representation becomes greater in our times. Magazines thus play a significant role in having underrepresented voices heard.
Archiving and documenting culture: Magazines are a historical record of cultural and societal trends, documenting the zeitgeist in a way other media often don’t. Each issue represents an era, and captures the issues and interests of that moment – the clothes, music, attitudes, agendas and aesthetics of the time. It can serve as a record of profound social and cultural shifts, as magazines document how a new form of music, for example, captured the zeitgeist, or how familial roles have changed over time. This archiving role is also important for historians, researchers and anyone curious about how we make sense of the past. Art, literature and fashion form the basis of much magazine publishing and, by showcasing creativity and cultural phenomena, magazines document how we make sense of an era.
They stimulate reading and thoughtfulness – A magazine encourages intellectual engagement and promotes literacy because it covers such a diverse range of topics. This interest challenges people to think about new ideas and to try and understand them. Readers can relax and read at their own pace and think about the material more deeply than for example, what we generally tend to read online. Readers see it as more permanent. The length of magazine articles is far more detailed than what is generally found online allowing readers to digest more information in one sitting. Education – Magazines are an easy way to learn and gain information that can be used academically. For example, magazines focused on sports are great for learning or writing a paper about games that will be played and predictions for that specific team. People who love to read and learn gain valuable knowledge from reading magazines. They can become more expansive in teaching, education and everyday discussions.
Conclusion
But it shows that magazines will survive digital disruption and continue to have a role and purpose, by adding value for readers in a way no digital publication can. Magazines are curated, offering depth, for niches within niches. They create and host a high level of culture and public debate, instead of merely reporting it. They are brain food for the printed page, a tangible and aesthetic pleasure in the all-digital landscape. They are gatekeepers of diversity and culture, encouraging intellectual engagement at the same time. Despite attacks by digital natives and others who have not lived through the changes in the media environment, through the rise and fall and rise of great magazine brands and great titles, magazines are here to stay. In fact, I am certain they will progressively grow in importance, as the media environment evolves. Magazines will not just survive in the all-digital age but, like all media, grow in significance as the shape of communications changes around us. The magazine is not just a publication; it is a cultural bridge, a network of bridges to be savoured and enjoyed.
