By: Sir Khalid Rehman
In the simplest terms, a magazine can be defined as a periodical publication containing articles and illustrations covering specific subjects. I would like to add to this: a magazine should also be loaded with interesting surprises. (No surprises, no sale. No sale, no magazine.)
Magazines are an important part of the profession of journalism. They have a long and distinguished history, and they continue to make significant contributions to the news of the day. Magazines have contributed or pioneered a number of important aspects to journalism, including (1) investigative reporting; (2) photojournalism; (3) the personality profile; (4) narrative journalistic writing (interviews, features and articles).
In the past, magazines have often been harbingers of change. When social, economic or technological shifts reshaping the culture took place, magazines were the once to move and bring the juicy details to the readership. While newspapers are tied to a specific geographic area, magazines are centered on interests or niches. Magazine writers are looking for trends. Titles are added or subtracted to attract specific audience segments or interests. Advertisers, too, pick up hot titles of the moment aimed at particular demographics and put their precious money on them.
Background
Magazines became the major forum for a special brand of journalism, photojournalism, in the middle of the 20th century. When television had just made its debut, pictures of important and interesting happenings with descriptive narration and relevant stories reached an inquisitive audience (then called readership). While newspapers were more concerned with reporting the day’s events with just a few photographs, weekly magazines such as Life, Time and Newsweek, and prestigious monthlies such as National Geographic distinguished themselves by their photographic imagery. The Reader’s Digest stood out by providing one article for each day of the month to interested readers as it contained 30 articles in each issue.
Bringing out quality magazines is expensive. At home, in Pakistan, good magazines have been brought out by big publishing houses or the government information departments.
The Golden Age of magazine journalism with photos as an integral part ended in the 1970s when good magazines faced tough competition with electronic media for advertising revenue to continue their large circulations and high costs. Many magazines had to close down and only those who turned their attention to television survived. Many newspapers too are struggling now to sustain their publication.
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