Niall makes a good point. Diagrams are visually interesting, too, but once the magazines went to color, the battle of diagrams v. photos was largely over.
I disagree with his point that architects aren't given the opportunity to write in the magazines if they want to. I think I have that opportunity most any time I want it, however years ago it was suggested to me that writing for ONE magazine meant less coverage in all the OTHERS, and possibly affected one's standings in the course rankings of others, too. So I stopped writing regularly. The only thing that holds architects back from writing more today is whether they have the ability to write well ... most magazines still do have some standard in that department. In fact, magazines are lazier than ever; many will print articles verbatim as submitted by advertisers in this day and age, and they certainly don't pay very much per word.