Have we seen the death of Magazines?

[John Kavanaugh]

Time and Newsweek have embarrassed themselves this week.  I am getting more calls than ever attempting to get me to take free industry periodicals.  I turn each down and refuse to re-up the ones I get now by giving them my mailing address.  No one except those who contribute to the ratings even bother to comment on rating threads anymore.  I mean really, yearly and biyearly updates.  I used to enjoy the delivery of the mail, now I despise it.  Is this once lovely part of our life over? 

note:  Is there a place for retro magazine placement.  What would that be?

Also, what are some of your favorite magazine moments that no longer ring true?

[Carl Nichols]

John:
As evidence relevant to your question, I have no idea what's on the cover of either Time or Newsweek this week (or, for that matter, most weeks).  What's on the covers? 

[John Kavanaugh]

Time shows a older child breastfeeding on a beautiful woman and Newsweek says that Obama is our first Gay President.  It would be like if Golfweek put Dismal River in their top 100.  Pure shock value just to get people talking.

[Brent Hutto]

I just with Golf magazine (or is it Golf Digest) would quit sending me big, thick, glossy bit of landfill fodder every month. I have never, ever subscribed to either of those (although I did take Golfworld for a year way back when) yet it started showing up like clockwork almost a year ago. Did one of you jokers here send in a subscription with my name on it?

[John McCarthy]

A year and a half ago I got a free year of Golf Magazine with the purchase of a thirty dollar used wedge.  I never re-upped.  They keep sending it to me.  

I don't buy magazines or newspapers anymore.  Too messy.

[Terry Lavin]

It would be like if Golfweek put Dismal River in their top 100.  Pure shock value just to get people talking.

Spit my diet coke on the computer.

[Brent Hutto]

It would be like if Golfweek put Dismal River in their top 100.  Pure shock value just to get people talking.

Spit my diet coke on the computer.

Yes, John can have that effect on people. It's the shock value I guess.

[Matthew Rose]

Maybe if 50% of it wasn't advertising content.

We've had GD for years, and still do.... I still look forward to getting it, even though most months I'm profoundly disappointed in it. I still like the Masters and US Open issues each year (a few good things about Olympic) but the rest of the time. We only re-up it because we're paying practically nothing for it right now. It's become way too instruction focused for me anymore.... I've never bought golf magazines for instruction... I don't relate to most of the "tips" and rarely have I seen anything ground breaking.

[Tim Bert]

It is very hard for me to imagine my kids or their generation ever subscribing to a print newspaper or magazine of any type. I think electronic versions of these could eventually work.

[Bruce Wellmon]

I was just getting ready to say newspapers.

[David_Tepper]

The Economist is probably the best weekly magazine published anywhere in the world. 

[Carl Johnson]

What about GolfWeek's subscription mess?  I've subscribed for any number of years.  About three years ago I began getting phone calls from a bogus organization trying to get me to extend my GolfWeek subscription, sometimes with ridiculous promotional offers.  GolfWeek contends the calls are bogus, and from time to time prints notices in the magazine to that effect, but they can't seem to get this operation to stop.  Does anyone know any more details about this situation than I do?

Incidently, we stopped subscribing to general magazines like Time and Newsweek many years ago.  I think that kind of magazine can no longer make it.  I'll agree that the Economist is the best weekly newsmagazine out there today, and I'll pick it up sometimes when I travel, but I also dropped my subscription to it several years ago.

[Peter Pallotta]

Magazine writers tend to shrug off criticism of shoddy, shallow, or uninteresting work by citing a) deadlines, b) public tastes, c) editorial policies, or d) short attention spans.  

JK - I don't think we've yet seen the death of magazines, but I do wonder: how many magazines full of shoddy, shallow work are needed to fill the demand for same?  

Peter
PS- Once again this month, Jaime Diaz saves the day - this time with a lovely piece on Billy Casper.

[John Kirk]

The Economist is probably the best weekly magazine published anywhere in the world. 

I subscribe to The Economist, Rolling Stone and Science News.  My wife subscribes to a couple Apple-related electronics magazines.  We get The Reader's Digest as a yearly gift.  If I were to add another, my choice would be Sports Illustrated, with its nice photographs and short essays.

The Internet changed everything.

[John Kavanaugh]

Everything changes everything.  It's not just the internet.  I am forced to read four small town newspapers everyday to keep up with existing and potential construction projects.  Local news does not translate well to the internet.  The stories to small and the people to plain.

[Dan Kelly]

As I see things...

It's all about the quality of the presentation and the value of the content. And it always will be. And I think that, on both counts, most golf magazines fall short most of the time. That's a recipe for decline, if not extinction.

How many ranking lists and slice cures must one person read in a lifetime?

I'm a big fan of a couple of magazines: The New Yorker and The Week (both of which present valuable content, intelligently presented). Glad to hear Science News is worthwhile; I just started a test sub. for my daughter. I've heard innumerable people praise The Economist -- and would test that assessment, if I thought my life would improve by reading a magazine devoted to world politics and economics.

The problem for magazines, as for newspapers, will not necessarily be circulation; it will be advertising -- which, in fact, is fleeing to the Internet, where it is considerably less profitable to "the media" than it has been for the printed media.

Prepare to pay more for your print publications.

[BCrosby]

"Prepare to pay more for your print publications."

Absolutely. Or they disappear. But also prepare to pay more for freebie web sites.  To take one example, The Browser does an incredible job of aggregating daily articles and comment. There are also daily interviews with experts in different fields about books they recommentd. Amazingly good stuff. Where The Browser gets the funds to pay its staff escapes me. Sooner or later, those funds will have to come from us.

Bob

[Dan Kelly]

"Prepare to pay more for your print publications."

Absolutely. Or they disappear. But also prepare to pay more for freebie web sites.  To take one example, The Browser does an incredible job of aggregating daily articles and comment. There are also daily interviews with experts in different fields about books they recommentd. Amazingly good stuff. Where The Browser gets the funds to pay its staff escapes me. Sooner or later, those funds will have to come from us.

Bob

Cf. http://thebrowser.com/membership?currency=USD.

The Browser has made itself essential to many of us. They're staying free, for now, mostly, but ... cf., also, http://thebrowser.com/announcement

[John Kavanaugh]

"Prepare to pay more for your print publications."

What is strange about that is that I am being offered more "free" industry publications than ever.  I see most if not all magazines being free for those in the target demographic.  If you are proven to be a potential consumer the advertisers will pay to get you to open the pages.

What the golf magazines need to do is charge for product placement.  If Tiger is on the cover then Nike pays, if Rory then Puma, etc., etc.  Lord knows golf courses pay to be on the cover so why not products.

[Dan Kelly]

What is strange about that is that I am being offered more "free" industry publications than ever.  I see most if not all magazines being free for those in the target demographic.  If you are proven to be a potential consumer the advertisers will pay to get you to open the pages.

Correct. I was speaking of general-interest, "mass market" publications.

I'd guess the free-market price for Road Grader Fortnightly is, in fact, free!

Your product-placement idea is abysmally wonderful.

[Tim Martin]

I love nothing better than getting the paper(Hartford Courant) delivered daily. Trying to read online or smartphone editions of papers and magazines is nice if you want to zero in on something but I can`t browse everything. I also like getting Golfweek and SI by subsription and don`t see that changing either. I must say though that I am a fan of the Iphone`s free version of USA Today.

[JMEvensky]

I love nothing better than getting the paper(Hartford Courant) delivered daily. Trying to read online or smartphone editions of papers and magazines is nice if you want to zero in on something but I can`t browse everything. I also like getting Golfweek and SI by subsription and don`t see that changing either. I must say though that I am a fan of the Iphone`s free version of USA Today.

Same here--home delivery of newspapers should be an inalienable right.

Ever get the feeling we're a dying breed?

[Dan Kelly]

Ever get the feeling we're a dying breed?

Every damned day.

[Tim Martin]

I love nothing better than getting the paper(Hartford Courant) delivered daily. Trying to read online or smartphone editions of papers and magazines is nice if you want to zero in on something but I can`t browse everything. I also like getting Golfweek and SI by subsription and don`t see that changing either. I must say though that I am a fan of the Iphone`s free version of USA Today.

Same here--home delivery of newspapers should be an inalienable right.

Ever get the feeling we're a dying breed?

Sometimes I feel that way but it doesn`t change the joy it brings me. I always grab a New York Times or Boston Globe Sunday edition as well. If you really want to go through the whole paper a NYT sunday paper will last you all week it you look at a section or two a day. Pretty good value for $5. As far as people bitching about the rising cost of home delivery I can`t put a price on stepping outside my door in my PJ`s and grabbing it. One of life`s simple pleasures.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Reading electronically delivered media at the diner instead of a newspaper would make my bacon, eggs and homefries taste like cardboard, but today I noticed a few tablet users doing just that. They were sitting in a booth eating oatmeal, yogurt and Belgian waffles. Commies.