Magazine Division
Publishers Choice: The Influence of Publishers and Advertisers on Agri-Business Magazines • Stephen A. Banning, Louisiana State University and James F. Evans, University of Illinois • This study focuses upon the health, vigor and credibility of a complex information system in which the U.S. food enterprise and society in general have an important stake. Authors employed a contractualist model in which power requires mutual agreement by all parties. Through qualitative research methods, the study reported here examined related views among a sample of agricultural publishers and advertisers.
West versus East in Egyptian Teen Magazines: A Content Analysis of Teen Stuff Al Shabab and Kelmetna • Ralph D. Berenger and Dalia El Nimr, American University in Cairo • This study examines three teen magazines in Egypt: what topics they cover and what they don’t cover to better understand the effect they publications have on young readers. Through content analysis and content evaluation, this paper finds celebrities and romance dominates the publications. The paper also explores the publications’ similarities and differences, and offers some suggestions on how they can be improved to help young people better understand the world around them.
Representation of Gender and Race in Images of Information Technology in Magazines Popular with Middle School Students • Joseph Bernt, Phyllis Bernt, Ohio University and Tomoko Kanayama, Keio University • Middle school students use media 8 hours a day, including magazines; during these middle school years, girls and minorities are most likely to discontinue studies in science. Content analysis of 4,210 editorial and 840 advertising images of people in favorite magazines of middle school students found 86 editorial and 339 advertising images were associated with IT. Most editorial images were of entertainment devices and advertising images were of videogames.
General Interest Magazine Language Preference among Hispanics • Anthony Galvez, Texas Tech University • For this study, 217 Hispanic respondents read articles in Spanish, English and a mix of English with Spanish and asked to identify their affinity toward the articles, ability to understand the articles, and the article’s perceived news value. Data analysis revealed Hispanics preferred articles written in English and a mix of English and Spanish to those written in Spanish alone. No relationship was found between level of acculturation and language presentation style preference.
Outsourcing and the Class Divide: The Framing of an Economic and Social Issue in Fortune and Time • Josh Mound, Ohio University • In recent years, offshore outsourcing has become a controversial issue. As various interested parties have attempted to shape, spin, and slant coverage of the issue, media outlets have selectively emphasized certain facets of the issue when presenting it to their respective target audiences. By studying the framing of outsourcing in Fortune and Time, this study examines the relationship between the demographic characteristics of a magazine’s target audience and how that magazine frames the issue of outsourcing.
Framing the Enemy Following September 11 • Jeff Patterson, University of Texas at Austin • The news media’s rush to explain terrorist motivations in the weeks after September 11, 2001 led to thematic frames of traditional depictions of enemies (i.e., as barbaric; criminal; antidemocratic; evil; beast/inhuman; as death). Given critics’ concerns of news media coverage being overly simplistic in portraying the Middle East and Islam, the paper raises concerns about the news media’s in creating sufficient images by which rational choices are made/justified in the in the first weeks of the new war on terror.
Affluent Consumer Magazines: A Pilot Study Using the Theory of Niche to Explain Advertiser Spending • Lindsay S. Phillips, Iowa State • This study examined the extent to which the theory of the niche could be applied to competing lifestyle consumer magazine categories. This was determined by the ability to develop levels of niche breadth and niche overlap for competing magazine. A content analysis was conducted measuring the number of automobile advertisements included in each magazine. Findings suggested that the data collected were inconsistent with the theory of the niche.
Food frames: The Coverage of Food by News Magazines, 1995-2004 • Joan E. Price, Ohio University • This content analysis examines news magazine articles on food-related topics for trends in topic coverage, framing and source use, from 1995 through 2004. Findings indicate that the food industry dominated coverage, as the most frequently covered topic category and in the most commonly invoked frame, that of interest group liberalism. Sources from the food industry were also the most frequently cited and the most prominently featured source type.
Representing Texas and Texans: The Content and Editorial Process of Texas Monthly Magazine • Susan Currie Sivek, Texas at Austin • This study of Texas Monthly uses content analysis and in-depth interviews to understand the nature of the magazine and its editorial process. The content analysis reveals the magazine’s narrow definition of “Texas,” regarding gender, racial/ethnic diversity, and individuals’ occupations. The nature of magazine management and the socialization of editorial staff contribute to this portrayal. The potential for attribute agenda-setting studies of cultural images is discussed as a new use for the theory.
Teaching Standards in Feature and Magazine Writing Classes • David E. Sumner, Ball State University • This study sought to determine the most common problems seen by professors in feature and magazine writing assignments. Based on 134 respondents, the most common problems are 1) Not reading widely enough to distinguish between original and unoriginal ideas; 2) Choosing an angle that’s too broad and poorly focused; and 3) Writing articles that do too much ‘telling’ and not enough ‘showing.” The results display significantly high correlation by gender, terminal degree, and tenure status comparisons.
Entertainment and Music Magazine Reading and Binge Drinking Among a Group of Juvenile Offenders • Steven R. Thomsen, Brigham Young University and Dag Rekve, World Health Organization • This study examines the influence of exposure to entertainment and music magazines on binge drinking among a group of 342 juvenile offenders (ages 12-18) currently under court supervision. Results of a multivariate logistic regression analysis to predict whether our subjects typically consumed five or more drinks during a drinking episode indicate that perceived ease of access, age, gender, the number of best friends who drink, and entertainment/music magazine reading frequency were significant predictors of binge drinking.