It's Tuesday: 5 Things About the World of Magazines & Media - Issue #26

I don't know about you, but when we get close to the end of the year, things tend to annoy me just a little bit less.

Maybe it's because this is a time for some reflection. Perhaps it's the result of us being a bit less busy with the working world than we were a month earlier (Although this year I am super busy, which is different. And weird.).

Or maybe it's because there's peppermint mocha available at the coffee shop down the street.

I don't really know. But here are a few things to reflect on:

There are only 24 days left in 2021.

And...

We're somewhat less than 100 days out from the second anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 lockdown here in Chicago.

Delta is still here, and Omicron's on the horizon.

So please, get yourself vaccinated and boosted friends! Wear a mask indoors in public areas. It's a wonderful holiday gift to give yourself and everyone you love, or like, or tolerate.

Let's dig into the news!

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Hold your horses, we're not going south for the winter (Source: John J Kim, Chicago Tribune)

#1 This is what happens when you live in a "news desert"

Margaret Sullivan: What happens to society — and our democracy — when community and regional journalism dries up - The Washington Post — www.washingtonpost.com Americans must understand the existential threat facing local news outlets, writes Margaret Sullivan.

We've covered this topic many times before, and will again in item #3 below. But it bears repeating: Just ask yourself if you have limited news coverage in your market: "Who's minding the store?"

This is your community in a news desert. (Source: Britannica)

#2 Condé Nast's Arch Digest will publish its first global print edition

Architectural Digest will publish its first global print issue as part of revamped international rollout strategy — digiday.com After experimenting with rolling out feature stories and videos globally this year, Architectural Digest will publish its first global magazine issue.

This is a trend that's been a long time coming. So it's not surprising or perhaps even groundbreaking. But it is very encouraging.

What is most interesting to me, however, was that the story appeared in my newsfeed from web publisher Digiday!

#3 More on the Local Journalism Sustainability Act from columnist Tony Silber

The Real Government Solution For Local Media 11/30/2021 — www.mediapost.com The Real Government Solution For Local Media - 11/30/2021

Continuing on from the first link in this newsletter: Columnist and former Folio publisher, Tony Silber talks about this portion of the Build Back Better bill proposed by President Biden and how important it is to your local community.

Here’s an example of what a news desert looks like here in the suburbs of Chicago. There used to be a local weekly newspaper chain called the Pioneer Press. Over the years that I have lived here, the chain has been sold, sold again, was most recently sold to The Chicago Tribune and is now part of the zombie paper chain owned by Alden Media.

Our local weekly? It’s a link buried deep in the Tribune website. Where years ago the local weekly was thick with articles about the comings and going in our town, and with a local reporter or two who covered the doings of the the eleven taxing bodies (Yes, that’s right, there are 11 - eleven - taxing bodies on my property tax bill), as near as I can tell, there is one stringer writing for pretty much the entire chain of “local” sites here in Lake County.

Who’s reporting on our local town council? The two school districts? The library board? The park district? The fire and rescue district? The mosquito abatement district (No, really!)? The township district? The union drainage district (Not making that one up either)?

Well, no one. You can read a lot of rumors on Next Door and I refuse to wade into the Facebook swamp.

So, yeah. Let’s try this. Let’s try something.

#4 In "Weird News Adjacent to Magazine Publishing," the FBI says there is no evidence that the Saudis hacked Jeff Bezos' phone and gave his texts to the National Enquirer

The FBI still hasn't found proof that Saudi Arabia hacked Jeff Bezos' phone and isn't prioritizing that theory, report says — www.businessinsider.com Jeff Bezos' team accused Saudi Arabia of hacking his phone and leaking his intimate texts to the National Enquirer tabloid in 2019.

Yeah, that's freaking weird all right.

So what's going on with the Enquirer these days? Well, in the most recent circulation audit, The National Enquirer reported a circulation of 145,364. Ten years earlier in 2011, their reported circulation was 659,562.

In 2007 their circulation was over one million.

#5 Former Shape Magazine print staffers were also producing Sweet July Magazine for Meredith. They were laid off, then brought back as temp workers to produce a 6th issue

Laid-off Meredith staff worked unpaid OT on Ayesha Curry’s ‘Sweet July’ magazine — nypost.com Meredith Corp. is being accused of exploiting laid off workers and stiffing them on pay for working on Ayesha Curry's quarterly Sweet July magazine.

MeredithUnion on Twitter: "We are the 7 editorial workers who produced 5 beautiful issues of @AyeshaCurry’s wellness magazine @sweetjulymag, which we were required to work on *in addition to* our full-time jobs at @Shape_Magazine without any additional compensation from @MeredithCorp. None at all.… https://t.co/D7QRSYibLm" — twitter.com “We are the 7 editorial workers who produced 5 beautiful issues of @AyeshaCurry’s wellness magazine @sweetjulymag, which we were required to work on *in addition to* our full-time jobs at @Shape_Magazine without any additional compensation from @MeredithCorp. None at all.”

This is one of those odd stories that I don’t quite get. Meredith is a storied and vaunted publisher in our world. Through all of the industry ups and downs, they’ve been quite steadfast. Innovating and dodging bullets left and right. Their recent acquisition by IAC is surprising, but ideally will give them access to more resources.

The launch of Sweet July last year seemed like another brilliant idea by this well respected publisher. But letting go of Shape staffers who were producing the magazine, then bringing them back as temp workers on a tight deadline?

That smells of 21st century late stage capitalism - you know, the type of capitalism that pretty much sucks unless you’re the owner of a private equity firm.

If these reports are true, then I hope that Ayesha Curry will step up and support the workers who make the magazine that has her name on the masthead. Meredith should properly compensate their employees and treat them as the valued expert professionals that they are.

Shape was a monthly title. Sweet July is a quarterly. That's a lot of production for one staff.

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Do you have a question or comment? Please drop me a line. You can always reach me at joe.berger@newsstandpros.com

That’s it! That's all we've got for you at the moment. May the rest of your week be filled with canceled Zoom calls and emails that start with: "You know what? Let's pick this up in 2022!"

I mean, wouldn't that be awesome?