A magazine
Term origin and definition
Origin
The etymology of the word "magazine" suggests derivation from the
Arabic language (مخازن), the
broken plural of (مخزن) meaning "depot, storehouse" (originally military storehouse); that comes to English via
Middle French magasin and Italian magazzino.
In its original sense, the word "magazine" referred to a storage space or device.
Definitions
In the case of written publication, it refers to a collection of
written work articles; hence, magazine publications share the moniker with storage units for military equipment such as gunpowder, artillery and
, and in French and Russian (adopted from the French, as магазин),
such as
.
The difference between magazines and journals are their audience, purpose, and publication process. Journal articles are written by experts for experts, while magazine articles are usually intended for the general public or a demographic. Journals contain recent research on specific areas, while magazines aim to entertain, inform, or educate a general audience on a wide range of topics. Journals are published by academic or professional organizations, and may be peer reviewed, while magazine articles are typically shorter and more accessible than journal articles, often written in a journalistic style.
Distribution
Print magazines can be distributed through the
mail, through sales by
,
, or other vendors, or through free distribution at selected pick-up locations. Electronic distribution methods can include
social media,
email,
, and visibility of a publication's
website and
search engine results. The traditional subscription business models for distribution fall into three main categories.
Paid circulation
In this model, the magazine is sold to readers for a price, either on a per-issue basis or by subscription, where an annual fee or monthly price is paid and issues are sent by post to readers. Paid circulation allows for defined readership statistics.
Non-paid circulation
This means that there is no cover price and issues are given away, for example in street dispensers, on airlines, or included with other products or publications. Because this model involves giving issues away to unspecific populations, the statistics only entail the number of issues distributed, and not who reads them.
Controlled circulation
This is the model used by many trade magazines (industry-based periodicals) distributed only to qualifying readers, often for free and determined by some form of survey. Because of costs (e.g., printing and postage) associated with the medium of print, publishers may not distribute free copies to everyone who requests one (unqualified leads); instead, they operate under controlled circulation, deciding who may receive free subscriptions based on each person's qualification as a member of the trade (and likelihood of buying, for example, likelihood of having corporate purchasing authority, as determined by job title). This allows a high level of certainty that advertisements will be received by the advertiser's target audience,
and it avoids wasted printing and distribution expenses. This latter model was widely used before the rise of the World Wide Web and is still employed by some titles. For example, in the United Kingdom, a number of computer-industry magazines use this model, including
Computer Weekly and
Computing, and in finance,
Waters Magazine. For the global media industry, an example would be
VideoAge International.
History
The earliest example of magazines was
Erbauliche Monaths Unterredungen, a literary and philosophy magazine, which was launched in 1663 in Germany.
, first published in 1741 in London was the first general-interest magazine.
, who edited
The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term "magazine", on the analogy of a military storehouse,
[ OED, s.v. "Magazine", and ] the quote being: "a monthly collection, to treasure up as in a magazine".
Founded by
Herbert Ingram in 1842,
The Illustrated London News was the first
illustrated weekly news magazine.
Britain
The oldest consumer magazine still in print is
The Scots Magazine,
which was first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and gaps in publication totalling over 90 years weaken that claim.
Lloyd's List was founded in Edward Lloyd's England coffee shop in 1734; although its online platform is still updated daily, it has not been published as a printed magazine since 2013, when it ended print publication after 274 years.
France
Under the Ancien Régime, the most prominent magazines were Mercure de France, Journal des sçavans, founded in 1665 for scientists, and Gazette de France, founded in 1631.
Jean Loret was one of France's first journalists. He disseminated the weekly news of music, dance and Parisian society from 1650 until 1665 in verse, in what he called a
gazette burlesque, assembled in three volumes of
La Muse historique (1650, 1660, 1665). The French press lagged a generation behind the British, for they catered to the needs of the aristocracy, while the newer British counterparts were oriented toward the middle and working classes.
[Botein, Stephen; Censer, Jack R. & Ritvo, Harriet. "The periodical press in eighteenth-century English and French society: a cross-cultural approach." Comparative Studies in Society and History 23#3 (1981): 464–490.]
Periodicals were censored by the central government in Paris. They were not totally quiescent politically—often they criticized Church abuses and bureaucratic ineptitude. They supported the monarchy and they played at most a small role in stimulating the revolution.[Darnton, Robert & Roche, Daniel, eds., Revolution in Print: the Press in France, 1775–1800 (1989).]
Magazines flourished after Napoleon left in 1815. Most were based in Paris and most emphasized literature, poetry and stories. They served religious, cultural and political communities. In times of political crisis they expressed and helped shape the views of their readership and thereby were major elements in the changing political culture.[Keith Michael Baker, et al., The French Revolution and the Creation of Modern Political Culture: The transformation of the political culture, 1789–1848 (1989).] For example, there were eight Catholic periodicals in 1830 in Paris. None were officially owned or sponsored by the Church and they reflected a range of opinion among educated Catholics about current issues, such as the 1830 July Revolution that overthrew the Bourbon monarchy. Several were strong supporters of the Bourbon kings, but all eight ultimately urged support for the new government, putting their appeals in terms of preserving civil order. They often discussed the relationship between church and state. Generally, they urged priests to focus on spiritual matters and not engage in politics. Historian M. Patricia Dougherty says this process created a distance between the Church and the new monarch and enabled Catholics to develop a new understanding of church-state relationships and the source of political authority.[Dougherty, M. Patricia. "The French Catholic press and the July Revolution." French History 12#4 (1998): 403–428.]
Turkey
General
The
Moniteur Ottoman was a gazette written in
French language and first published in 1831 on the order of
Mahmud II. It was the first official gazette of the
Ottoman Empire, edited by Alexandre Blacque at the expense of the
Sublime Porte. Its name perhaps referred to the French newspaper
Le Moniteur Universel. It was issued weekly.
Takvim-i Vekayi was published a few months later, intended as a translation of the
Moniteur into Ottoman Turkish. After having been edited by former Consul for Denmark "
M. Franceschi", and later on by "
Hassuna de Ghiez", it was lastly edited by Lucien Rouet. However, facing the hostility of embassies, it was closed in the 1840s.
Satire
Satirical magazines of Turkey have a long tradition. One of the earliest satirical magazines was
Diyojen which was launched in 1869. There are around 20 satirical magazines; the leading ones are
Penguen (70,000 weekly circulation),
LeMan (50,000) and
Uykusuz. Historical examples include OÄŸuz Aral's magazine
Gırgır (which reached a circulation of 500,000 in the 1970s) and
Marko PaÅŸa (launched in 1946). Others include
L-Manyak and
Lombak.
United States
Colonial America
Publishing was a very expensive industry in colonial times. Paper and printer's ink were taxed imported goods and their quality was inconsistent. Interstate tariffs and a poor road system hindered distribution, even on a regional scale. Many magazines were launched, most failing within a few editions, but publishers kept trying. Benjamin Franklin is said to have envisioned one of the first magazines of the American colonies in 1741, the
General Magazine and Historical Chronicle. The
Pennsylvania Magazine, edited by
Thomas Paine, ran only for a short time but was a very influential publication during the Revolutionary War. The final issue containing the text of the Declaration of Independence was published in 1776.
Late 19th century
In the mid-19th century, monthly magazines gained popularity. They were general interest to begin, containing some news, vignettes, poems, history, political events, and social discussion.
[Straubhaar, LaRose, Davenport. Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology (Nelson Education, 2015).] Unlike newspapers, they were more of a monthly record of current events along with entertaining stories, poems, and pictures. The first periodicals to branch out from news were
Harper's and
The Atlantic, which focused on fostering the arts.
[Biagi, Shirley. Media Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media, 2013 Update. Cengage Publishing, 2013. ] Both
Harper's and
The Atlantic persist to this day, with
Harper's being a cultural magazine and The Atlantic focusing mainly on world events. Early publications of
Harper's even held famous works such as early publications of
Moby-Dick or famous events such as the laying of the world's first transatlantic telegraph cable; however, the majority of early content was trickle down from British events.
The development of the magazines stimulated an increase in literary criticism and political debate, moving towards more opinionated pieces from the objective newspapers.
The early periodical predecessors to magazines started to evolve to modern definition in the late 1800s.
Progressive era: 1890s–1920s
Mass-circulation magazines became much more common after 1900, some with circulations in the hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Some passed the million-mark in the 1920s. It was an age of
mass media. Because of the rapid expansion of national advertising, the cover price fell sharply to about 10 cents.
One cause was the heavy coverage of corruption in politics, local government and big business, especially by
Muckrakers. They were journalists who wrote for popular magazines to expose social and political sins and shortcomings. They relied on their own investigative journalism reporting; muckrakers often worked to expose social ills and corporate and political corruption. Muckraking magazines–notably
McClure's–took on corporate monopolies and crooked political machines while raising public awareness of chronic urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and
social issues such as
child labor.
[Herbert Shapiro, ed., The muckrakers and American society (Heath, 1968), contains representative samples as well as academic commentary.]
The journalists who specialized in exposing waste, corruption, and scandal operated at the state and local level, like Ray Stannard Baker, George Creel, and Brand Whitlock. Others, including Lincoln Steffens, exposed political corruption in many large cities; Ida Tarbell went after John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. Samuel Hopkins Adams in 1905 showed the fraud involved in many patent medicines, Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle gave a horrid portrayal of how meat was packed, and, also in 1906, David Graham Phillips unleashed a blistering indictment of the U.S. Senate. Roosevelt gave these journalists their nickname when he complained that they were not being helpful by raking up all the muck.[Robert Miraldi, ed. The Muckrakers: Evangelical Crusaders (Praeger, 2000).][Stein, Harry H. "American Muckrakers and Muckraking: The 50-Year Scholarship", Journalism Quarterly, (1979) 56#1 pp 9–17.]
1930s–1990s
21st century
According to the Research Department of
Statista, closures of magazines outnumbered launches in
North America during 2009. Although both figures declined during 2010–2015, launches outnumbered closures in each of those years, sometimes by a 3:1 ratio.
Focusing more narrowly, MediaFinder.com found that 93 new magazines were launched during the first six months of 2014, while only 30 closed in that time frame. The category which produced the most new publications was "Regional interest", of which six new magazines were launched, including
12th & Broad and
Craft Beer & Brewing.
However, two magazines had to change their print schedules. Johnson Publishing's
Jet stopped printing regular issues, making the transition to digital format, though still printing an annual print edition.
stopped their monthly schedule and home delivery for subscribers to become a quarterly newsstand-only special interest publication.
According to statistics from the end of 2013, subscription levels for 22 of the top 25 magazines declined from 2012 to 2013, with just Time, Glamour and ESPN The Magazine gaining numbers.
Women's magazines
The "seven sisters" of American women's magazines are
Ladies' Home Journal,
Good Housekeeping,
McCall's,
Woman's Day,
Redbook,
Family Circle, and
Better Homes and Gardens.
Some magazines, among them
Godey's Lady's Book and
Harper's Bazaar, were intended exclusively for a female audience, emphasizing the traditional gender roles of the 19th century.
Harper's Bazaar was the first to focus exclusively on
Haute couture, fashion accessories and textiles.
The inclusion of
didactic content about housekeeping may have increased the appeal of the magazine for a broader audience of women and men concerned about the frivolity of a fashion magazine.
[
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Categories
Based on periodicity
Magazines are often categorised by their frequencies of publication (i.e., as weeklies, monthlies, quarterlies, etc.).
Based on target audience and subject
Women's fashion
The first women's magazine targeted toward wives and mothers was published in 1852.[Nina Sylvester, "Before Cosmopolitan: The Girl in German women's magazines in the 1920s." Journalism Studies 8#4 (2007): 550–554.]
Parenting
Other women's magazines have influenced views of and child-rearing through the use of advice columns, advertisements, and articles related to parenting.
Religion
Religious magazines have a long and varied history. In the United States, religious magazines are among the first magazines to appear, and their content helped shape the early Republic's literacy, morals, and political events. But during the past 150 years, their influence has lessened.
Celebrity gossip, human interest
Magazines publishing stories and photos of high-profile individuals and celebrities have long been a popular format in the United States.
Professional
Professional magazines, also called trade magazines, or business-to-business magazines are targeted to readers employed in particular industries. These magazines typically cover industry trends and news of interest to professionals in the industry. Subscriptions often come with membership in a professional association. Professional magazines may derive revenue from advertisement placements or advertorials by companies selling products and services to a specific professional audience. Examples include Advertising Age, Automotive News, Broadcast, The Bookseller, and The Stage.
Based on tone or approach
Magazines can be categorised by their tone or approach, e.g., as with periodical works of satire or humor.
Cover
Being on the cover of a magazine is sometimes considered an honor, or even historic;
The English Wikipedia presents a number of List-type articles that survey subjects and individuals appearing in the covers of specific magazines; see for example:
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List of stories on the cover of National Geographic;
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List of individuals on the cover of Rolling Stone;
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List of people/stories on the cover of Time magazine;
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List of individuals on the cover of U.S. Vogue.
See also
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History of journalism
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Automobile magazines
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British boys' magazines
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Business magazines
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Computer magazines
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Customer magazines
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Fantasy fiction magazines
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Fashion journalism
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Horror fiction magazines
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Inflight magazines
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Lifestyle magazine
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Literary magazines
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News magazines
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Pornographic magazines
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Science fiction magazines
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Scientific journals
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(home design and decorating)
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Video game magazine
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Lists
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List of 18th-century British periodicals
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List of 19th-century British periodicals
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List of amateur radio magazines
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List of architecture magazines
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List of art magazines
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List of avant-garde magazines
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List of computer magazines
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List of environmental periodicals
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List of fashion magazines
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List of food and drink magazines
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List of gadget magazines
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List of health and fitness magazines
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List of horticultural magazines
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List of lesbian periodicals
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List of LGBT periodicals
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List of literary magazines
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List of magazines by circulation
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Lists of magazines by country
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List of manga magazines
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List of manga magazines published outside of Japan
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List of men's magazines
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List of music magazines
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List of online magazine archives
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List of political magazines
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List of pornographic magazines
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List of railroad-related periodicals
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List of satirical magazines
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List of science magazines
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List of travel magazines
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List of teen magazines
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List of video game magazines
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List of wildlife magazines
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List of women's magazines
Categories
Further reading
General
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This work, by two Vogue magazine historians, also covers such magazine titles as Der Spiegel, ¡Hola!, Life, National Geographic, Paris Match, Reader's Digest, People, and Time.
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The foregoing journal and archive links are to the journal abstract page, where PDF or HTML viewing cna be chosen. See also or
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> this archived link,
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U.S. magazines
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Baughman, James L. Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media (2001) excerpt and text search
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Brinkley, Alan. The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century, Alfred A. Knopf (2010) 531 pp.
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Damon-Moore, Helen. Magazines for the Millions: Gender and Commerce in the Ladies' Home Journal and the Saturday Evening Post, 1880–1910 (1994) online
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Elson, Robert T. Time Inc: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise, 1923–1941 (1968); vol. 2: The World of Time Inc.: The Intimate History, 1941–1960 (1973), official corporate history
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Endres, Kathleen L. and Therese L. Lueck, eds. Women's Periodicals in the United States: Consumer Magazines (1995) online
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Haveman, Heather A. Magazines and the Making of America: Modernization, Community, and Print Culture, 1741–1860 (Princeton UP, 2015)
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Johnson, Ronald Maberry and Abby Arthur Johnson. Propaganda and Aesthetics: The Literary Politics of Afro-American Magazines in the Twentieth Century (1979) online
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Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines (five volumes, 1930–1968), detailed coverage of all major magazines, 1741 to 1930 by a leading scholar.
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Nourie, Alan and Barbara Nourie. American Mass-Market Magazines (Greenwood Press, 1990) online
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Rooks, Noliwe M. Ladies' Pages: African American Women's Magazines and the Culture That Made Them (Rutgers UP, 2004) online
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Summer, David E. The Magazine Century: American Magazines Since 1900 (Peter Lang Publishing; 2010) 242 pages. Examines the rapid growth of magazines throughout the 20th century and analyzes the form's current decline.
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Tebbel, John, and Mary Ellen Zuckerman. The Magazine in America, 1741–1990 (1991), popular history
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Wood, James P. Magazines in the United States: Their Social and Economic Influence (1949) online
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Zuckerman, Mary Ellen. A History of Popular Women's Magazines in the United States, 1792–1995 (Greenwood Press, 1998) online
Magazine cover-art related
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This work discusses the history behind the 322 cover illustrations, generally painted, that Rockwell created for this magazine, through November 1963, before turning to another decade of painting illustrations about civil rights, poverty, and space exploration for Look magazine, en route to his 1977 Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to American portraiture.
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This work presents images of the seven cover graphic arts illustrations that Wheeler created for Life magazine, throughout 1963, originals and other materials related to which are now a part of this museum's collection.
External links
