It's Tuesday: A Look at The World of Magazines & Media - Issue #45
I’ve always found it interesting that while newspaper and video journalists are supposed to “neutral and impartial” reporters of the news, the same was never really expected for magazine publishers. Is that because there are so few “news” magazines? In the later half of the last century there was really only Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report.
Or maybe it's because magazines were not considered a primary source of news. After all, even those three storied news publications did not report “breaking news” as the cable channels would refer to it in today’s parlance.
Most likely, the expectations were different. There are (and were) allegedly "conservative" and "liberal" opinion magazines, but their numbers are and were few. Most magazines fit into very specific niches. What, exactly, is the journalistic "slant" of a knitting magazine? A fly fishing publication? A local bridal magazine?
The myth of “impartial” news has always been something of a misnomer. Was William Randolph Hearst, the king of “Yellow Journalism” really impartial? In the 1980’s I recall cringing when national politicians began beating the ridiculous drum of the “liberal mainstream media” right around the time I landed in Chicago. Back then, the mainstream media in town was made up of the three network TV stations, the Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times and public radio and TV.
The Tribune was clearly a conservative paper of the white collar class on the opinion page and the Sun Times was allegedly the opposing blue collar working class paper. But when Murdoch bought it in 1983, Mike Royko, the celebrated columnist walked over to the Tribune. But the editors of that paper didn’t change their tune and 39 years later, not much has changed. Back then the local TV stations seemed mostly interested in shootings, robberies, talking endlessly about weather and sports, and occasionally following some poor wretch from the parks or public works department around hoping to catch him sleeping in his van.
Like the Tribune, the only thing that's really changed with the local TV news is that there's more weather coverage, especially during tornado season.
The news reflects the community, the society, the culture, and more importantly, the owners. I’d appreciate it very much if the politicians would sit down and shut up, the members of the journalist class stop apologizing for doing their jobs, and for op-ed columnists to also sit down and shut up because it’s pretty clear from reading the stuff of the major national opinion writers, they really don’t live lives like most of the country does.
1___The Myth Of Neutrality
Become a free MediaPost member now to read this article — www.mediapost.com The Myth Of Neutrality - 05/06/2022
It was this piece by Media Post columnist Kaila Colbin got me thinking about the whole myth of journalistic neutrality. In her opinion piece, Colbin challenges the reader to consider the concept of "neutrality" as it applies to a person's experience and talks about empathy and the ability to put yourself into someone else's perspective to understand where they are coming from.
All true. But this does get dicey in these times now that we can't get significant portions of the national audience to agree on simple facts.
Which continues to make me think about the arguments about "fake news" here in 2022 and William Randolph Hearst's disputed statement to Frederic Remington in 1897 upon the sinking of the USS Maine, "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."
2___In Which This Newsletter Is Promoting That Newsletter
Call the cops - by Peter Houston - The Magazine Diaries — magazinediaries.substack.com I need to report a major idea heist I spent yesterday at a hotel in Derbyshire with some of the best idea stealers I’ve ever met. Nikki Simpson - the force of nature behind the International Magazine Centre - gathered together about 20 of her patrons for an exclusive away day and the thought theft was on an industrial scale.
UK magazine consultant Peter Houston started a Substack newsletter this past March on the premise that it's OK to steal good ideas.
He's right, of course, and in this day and age of non-stop trials for magazine media publishers, you've pretty much got to try them all. So on a regular basis, Peter is compiling some pretty good ones into a quick and newsy morning read.
Check it out, sign up for it, try them out.
3___The Fix: Subscriptions Aren't Doomed...
No, subscriptions aren’t doomed. Despite what Netflix and CNN+ signal to the industry - The Fix — thefix.media What does Netflix loss of subscribers CNN+ shutting down means for subscriptions? It creates a strong argument to rethink strategies and not getting rid of subscriptions.
But reporting about this topic is often fraught with a lot of overwrought prose...IMHO
This opinion piece by David Tvrdon isn't new (I was going to post it a few weeks ago, but have been sidetracked), but it's still relevant because there are so many ways to develop and promote a subscription model and so many different expectations as to to how much of your revenue should come from subscriptions.
4___Retail Dive: A Day of Reckoning for Ultrafast Delivery
A day of reckoning arrives for ultrafast delivery services | Retail Dive — www.retaildive.com Retail industry news, voices and jobs. Optimized for your mobile phone.
This is a fascinating piece about a type of service I wish I tried when we were living in the heart of the city during the pandemic: Ultrafast, same day delivery of basic goods and sundries.
Yes, there are some things I can get from Amazon Prime "same day". But where I live, I could also slip out of the office for 15-20 minutes and pick them up at about the same price. And I get away from my desk.
But these services are experiencing the beginnings of consolidation, a demand for their investors to show a profit, and an ability to plan for the long term.
Note to magazine distributors: You know...maybe you could partner with...
5___Meanwhile, in the World of Remarkably Bad Headlines...
Cazzie David on Gen Z, Fast Fashion, and Climate Change - Air Mail — airmail.news Generation Z was going to reverse climate change. Today, they’re buying from fast fashion retailer Shein to the tune of $100 billion. Cazzie David explains her disappointment.
If you click on the link, the sub head reads: "Generation Z grew up galvanized by climate change and ambitious to make a difference. Today, they're buying fast fashion to the tune of $100 billion. What happened?"
If you're familiar with this newsletter or my Twitter feed you know I'm not much of a fan of generational marketing nonsense.
The oldest member of GenZ is 25. You're condemning their efforts. Already? WTF?
For the record, this last wave Boomer (Yeah, I know) remembers that allegedly my generation was supposed to save us all. And Gen X was supposed to not care (Have you read their Twitter posts?). And Millennials were supposed save us, but...
What comes after GenZ? I hope it's not the zombie apocalypse because I'm inclined to think that the zombies are going to eat us, not save us.
Your Moment of Magazine Zen is Brought to You By...
___And Also By...
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Have a great week!