{"id":99,"date":"2017-05-16T19:47:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T19:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-massmedia\/chapter\/5-7-influence-of-the-internet-on-the-magazine-industry\/"},"modified":"2017-05-16T19:47:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T19:47:50","slug":"5-7-influence-of-the-internet-on-the-magazine-industry","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-massmedia\/chapter\/5-7-influence-of-the-internet-on-the-magazine-industry\/","title":{"raw":"5.7 Influence of the Internet on the Magazine Industry","rendered":"5.7 Influence of the Internet on the Magazine Industry"},"content":{"raw":"
\n

Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n
  1. Describe how print magazines have adapted to an online market.<\/li>\n
  2. Indicate a unique benefit of print magazines archiving back issues on their websites.<\/li>\n <\/ol><\/div>\n

    In March of 2010, Consumerist<\/em> published a story titled \u201cPrint edition of TV Guide<\/em> tells me to go online to read most of cover story.\u201d According to the article, TV Guide<\/em> printed a story listing \u201cTV\u2019s Top 50 Families,\u201d but shocked readers by including only the top 20 families in its print version. To discover the rest of the list, readers needed to go online (Villarreal, 2010). As dismayed as some readers were, this story reflects an ongoing trend in magazine journalism: the move toward online reporting.<\/p>\n

    Just like their newspaper cousins, magazines have been greatly affected by the influence of the Internet. With so much information available online, advertisers and readers are accessing content on the Internet, causing declines in both revenue and readership. These changes are forcing magazines to adapt to an increasingly online market.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Online-Only Magazines<\/h2>\n

    In 1995, Salon<\/em> launched the first major online-only magazine at http:\/\/www.salon.com<\/a>. \u201cSalon, the award-winning online news and entertainment website, combines original investigative stories, breaking news, provocative personal essays and highly respected criticism along with popular staff-written blogs about politics, technology and culture (Salon).\u201d Like many print magazines, the site divides content into sections including entertainment, books, comics, life, news and politics, and technology and business. With an average of 5.8 million monthly unique visitors, this online magazine demonstrates the potential successes of Internet-based publications (Salon).<\/p>\n

    Other online-only magazines include Slate<\/em> and PC Magazine<\/em>. All three magazines, like most online publications, support themselves in part through ads that appear alongside articles and other content. Founded in 1996, Slate<\/em> is a \u201cgeneral interest publication offering analysis and commentary about politics, news, and culture (Slate).\u201d Considering itself \u201ca daily magazine on the Web,\u201d Slate<\/em> offers its readers information on news and politics, arts, life, business, technology, and science via online articles, podcasts<\/a><\/span>, and blogs (Slate). The successful magazine has been recognized with numerous awards for its contributions to journalism.<\/p>\n

    PC Magazine<\/em> differs somewhat from Slate<\/em> or Salon<\/em> in that it was originally a print publication. First published in 1982, the computer magazine published hard-copy issues for over 15 years before announcing in 2008 that its January 2009 issue would be its last printed edition. In an open letter to its readers, PC Magazine<\/em> discussed the transition:<\/p>\n \n Starting in February 2009, PC Magazine<\/em> will become a 100-percent digital publication. So, in addition to our popular network of Websites\u2026we\u2019ll offer PC Magazine Digital Edition<\/em> to all of our print subscribers. The PC Magazine Digital Edition<\/em> has actually been available since 2002. So for thousands of you, the benefits of this unique medium are already clear. And those benefits will continue to multiply in the coming months, as we work hard to enhance your digital experience (Ulanoff, 2008).\n <\/span>\n

    While it is perhaps fitting that this computer-focused publication is one of the first print magazines to move to an entirely online form, its reasons for the transition were financial rather than creative. In describing the decision, Jason Young, chief executive of Ziff Davis Media, said, \u201cThe viability for us to continue to publish in print just isn\u2019t there anymore (Clifford, 2008).\u201d Unfortunately for the magazine industry, Young\u2019s sentiment reflects a trend that has been building for some time. Several other publications have followed in PC Magazine<\/em>\u2019s footsteps, making the move from print to online-only. Journals such as Elle Girl<\/em> and Teen People<\/em> that were once available in print can now be viewed only via the Internet. As printing costs rise and advertising and subscription revenues decrease, more magazines will likely be making similar shifts.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Magazine-Like Websites<\/h2>\n

    In recent years, websites that function much as magazines once did without officially being publications themselves have become an increasingly popular online model. For example, Pitchfork Media is an Internet publication on the music industry. Established in 1995, the site offers readers criticism and commentary on contemporary music and has many of the same features as a traditional music magazine: reviews, news, articles, and interviews. Whether the site is capitalizing on the success of print magazines by following their format or if it is simply responding to its readers by providing them with an accessible online experience is a debatable point. Of course, the website also has many features that would not be available in print, such as a streaming playlist of music and music videos. This hybrid of magazine-like content with new-media content offers a possible vision of the digital future of print publications.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

    \n

    Print Magazines With Online Presences<\/h2>\n

    Indeed, most print magazines have created websites. Nearly every major print publication has a site available either for free or through subscription. Yet there are intrinsic differences between the print and online media. Bernadette Geyer, author of a poetry chapbook, What Remains<\/em>, discusses the practical contrasts between online and print journals saying:<\/p>\n \n I will read a print journal cover to cover because I can bookmark where I left off\u2026. Simply taking all of the content of what would have been a print issue and putting it online with links from a Table of Contents is all well and good in theory, but I have to ask, how many people actually sit and read all of the contents of an online journal that publishes several authors\/genres per issue (Geyer, 2010)?\n <\/span>\n

    Her question is a good one, and one which most magazines have already asked themselves. In light of this dilemma, magazines with online editions have sought ways to attract readers who may not, in fact, read much. Most websites also include online-only content such as blogs, podcasts, and daily news updates that, naturally, are not available in print form. The additional features on magazines\u2019 websites likely stem from a need to attract audiences with shorter attention spans and less time to devote to reading entire articles.<\/p>\n

    Another way that magazines court online readers is by offering back-issue content. Readers can browse old articles without having to remember in which issue the content first appeared. The cost for this varies from publication to publication. For example, CooksIllustrated.com<\/a> reprints recipes from previous issues as part of a paid online membership service, while CookingLight.com<\/a> offers back issues for free. Some magazines have online archive collections, though those collections generally do not print entire articles or complete issues. Time<\/em>, for example, offers \u201chand-picked covers and excerpts from the best articles on a wide variety of subjects (Time).\u201d Time<\/em> suggests that one should \u201cuse them as chronological guides to Time<\/em>\u2019s past coverage of a person, event, or topic (Time).\u201d Still, even without the entire collection online, there is a distinct benefit of being able to search back for articles from 1923 from a computer.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

    \n

    Is Print Dead?<\/h2>\n

    The question Is print dead?<\/em> has dominated the magazine and newspaper industries for several years. In 2008, The New York Times<\/em> printed an article titled \u201cMourning Old Media\u2019s Decline,\u201d in which author David Carr describes multiple announcements of job loss in the print industry. Thousands of individuals working at magazines and newspapers faced layoffs because of reduced subscriber and advertiser demand. \u201cClearly the sky is falling,\u201d he writes, \u201cThe question now is how many people will be left to cover it (Carr, 2008).\u201d At the same time, Carr articulates the shift in readership from print to web, saying, \u201cThe paradox of all these announcements is that newspapers and magazines do not have an audience problem\u2014newspaper Web sites are a vital source of news, and growing\u2014but they do have a consumer problem (Carr, 2008).\u201d With a majority of magazines and newspapers now available for free online, one has to wonder how the industry will stay afloat. Although advertisements pay for a portion of the cost of running a magazine, it may not be enough.<\/p>\n

    The debate over whether print is still viable is a heated one that is infiltrating the magazine industry. At a 2006 magazine editorial meeting, Glamour<\/em>\u2019s editor in chief, Cindi Leive, claimed that she \u201cloves this question\u2026. Is print dead? Discuss (Benkoil & Stableford, 2006)!\u201d The editor in chief of More<\/em> magazine responded to the statement saying, \u201cIt\u2019s what we talk about all day long (Benkoil & Stableford, 2006).\u201d But for as many people who are fighting for the print industry to remain profitable, there is an equally vocal group arguing for the elimination of the print medium altogether. In a 2005 published debate on the topic, former print editor-turned-blogger Jeff Jarvis squared off against John Griffin, president of the National Geographic Society\u2019s magazine group. Jarvis claimed, \u201cPrint is not dead. Print is where words go to die.\u201d But Griffin countered, \u201cActually print is where words go to live\u2014we\u2019re still reading the ancient Greeks (Jarvis & Griffin, 2005).\u201d<\/p>\n

    Regardless of your position, the fact that the print industry is facing hardships is unquestionable. Magazines are rethinking their marketing strategies to remain viable in an increasingly online world. But many are hopeful that journals will find a way to publish both in print and on the Internet. After all, \u201cThere\u2019s something special and unique, even luxurious about reading a big, glossy magazine\u2026. Or, in the words of Marie Claire<\/em> editor Joanna Coles, \u2018As long as people take baths, there will always be a monthly magazine (Benkoil & Stableford).\u2019\u201dBenkoil and Stableford, \u201cIs Print Dead? Discuss!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n

    Key Takeaways<\/h3>\n