MAGAZINES

MAGAZINES

 

Another facet discussed in my week two discussion post was the role of magazines in our world of media technology. Magazines are also known or have been known as periodical, serials, glossies and a slick although “magazine” is still currently the most common reference. No matter what name you familiarize with, magazines are simply, “publications that appear on a regular schedule and contain a variety of articles” (Curtis, 2011).Magazines have the innate ability to be far reaching in their demographic because they are created specifically for their particular audience. Magazines exist in almost every genre of life.

There are magazines being published about, entertainment, music, health and fitness, beauty, home improvement and DIY. There are gaming magazines, hunting and fishing magazines and even gossip magazines that likely have fabricated every word in their print. Regardless of your lifestyle, age, gender, interests or tax bracket, there is at least one magazine targeted at you. The first magazine was published in 1663 in Germany. The notoriety spread worldwide over the next 300 years and evolved into the audience specific publications we know today. As magazines improved so did the cost of production. These costs were and still are offset by advertising, the purchase price and pre-paid subscriptions. Other momentous introductory publications were the first women’s magazine, published in 1770; National Geographic began production in 1899; Time was first published in 1923; Playboy and TV Guide were both introduced to the world in 1953; Sports illustrated materialized the following year. Today, magazines are vastly popular and effortlessly available. (Curtis, 2011)