MAGAZINES by Naomi Hodkinson (summary) part 1.

This is a summary of a section “Magazines” from the textbook “Exploring Media”.

This section explores three magazine titles which together investigate the areas of genre, narrative and representation. It will also look at the relationships between them, and builds on those understanding in a text-led way.

Three magazine titles to be explored are “Total Film”, “Grazia” and “2000 AD”. You need to be familiar with the media terminology associated with magazines to:

· to investigate briefly the state of the magazine industry and each title’s position within it,

· to understand the ways in which magazines target and appeal to their audiences and

· the ways in which different audiences respond to different magazines.

Magazines come in a wide range of sub-genres which include:

· Lifestyle magazines;

· Comics;

· Online editions.

(SUB-GENRES – smaller classes of a larger genre.)

How do magazines differ from newspaper?

· Magazine coverage is often more detailed but with less timely information.

· A newspaper covers the day-to-day story; a magazine will explore and profile the issues and people involved.

· Magazines are weekly, fortnightly, or monthly while newspapers are daily and cover topics of general interest for a specific geographical area.

· Magazines are more permanent: we keep the for longer, pass them on, etc.

· Magazines content and audience are more specialized and focused.

· Magazine consumers appreciate information which is specifically aimed at the needs and interests.

You will need to familiarize yourself with the conventions of the magazine genre and to use the appropriate media terms.

On the cover may appear:

· The title;

· The tagline;

· Price;

· Date of publication;

· Main image with anchorage;

· Possible straplines;

· Sidebars;

· “Puff” trailing features of cover lines.

Most magazines will have a contents page and editor’s section and most carry advertisement.

Analyzing a magazine: the cover

A magazine’s cover is its ‘face’. You can generally tell at a glance whether a magazine is for you.

To understand how we make these judgments, we should consider a range of elements.

· The magazine’s title.

What connotations does it carry?

· The strapline or tagline.

These can be linked to brand identity/house style and to the title’s values; and so to the ideas about target audience.

· The fonts and colours used.

What do they suggest about the title’s brand identity and target audience?

· The main image: often a male or female gazing into camera.

How femininity or masculinity are presented?

· The anchorage and cover lines.

These will reveal a great deal about the title’s ideologies and target audience.

What kinds of story does this magazine cover?

· How else does this magazine cover seek to persuade the consumer to buy?

Analyzing a magazine: between the covers

· The contents pages.

Are they formal and traditionally laid out; image-led and colourful?

· The editor’s letter.

What assumptions does it make about the intended audience?

· Two-page spreads.

Primary unit of design, but how are they laid out?

Traditional grids work in a two or three column format and are formal looking and book-like, but a more edgy or modern title might use horizontal, modular lines as well as the traditional, vertical grid, sidebars, text wrapped around photos and images which bleed across the grid lines.

· The advertisements.

The advertisement they carry is also precisely targeted.

Look at the proportion of advertisements to content and the kinds of brand which appear.

What do they suggest about the target audience of the magazine you are analyzing.

Major magazine publishers include the following:

· IPC – American-owned and part of the biggest media conglomerate in the world, Time Warner, which also incorporates the internet provider AOL.

Titles in its stable include Now, Nuts, Sugar, Pick me up, InStyle, etc.

· EMAP – previously a major player in the industry, but sold its magazine business to Bauer in December 2007.

· Bauer – a German company whose titles include FHM, New Woman, Empire, Heat, Bella, etc.

· Conde Nast – in the UK, its titles include Vogue, Glamour, Tatler, GQ, etc.

· NatMags – owned by Hearst, some of its titles are Cosmopolitan, Prima, Esquire, Men’s Health, etc.

· BBC magazines – a good example of commercial intertextuality or synergy. They include the Radio Times, Gardeners World, Top Gear, etc.

(SYNERGY – means ‘working together’ and refers to the way different arms of industry support and benefit one another.)

Many popular commercial magazine titles are global and are published in different countries. This globalization of the magazine industry suggests that magazine producers make stereotypical assumptions about their audiences.

Magazine titles have a clearly defined and focused target audience. They target these audiences with a mode of address which ‘speaks their language’ and may contain preferred readings which their target audience is likely to agree with. This precisely defined readership enables publishers to ‘sell’ their audiences to advertisers who then buy space, which is how they make most of their money.

Competition remains fierce among the main publishers. Magazines need to keep up-to-date with new technologies: most have websites and at least some of their content is available on mobile phone downloads.