Magazine 2002 Abstracts
Magazine Division
Truth Beyond Fact: An Analysis of the Gonzo Journalism of Hunter S. Thompson • Jamie Kopf, Texas at Austin • Hunter S. Thompson, who patented the aggressive, subjective first-person form of journalism known as Gonzo, has generated considerable debate among scholars of literary journalism, some of whom argue that his trademark fictionalization renders his work satire, not journalism. In arguing for Thompson’s classification as a literary journalist, this paper examines his work in the context of New Journalism, addresses the defining characteristics of the Gonzo approach, and hypothesizes the potential agenda underlying Thompson’s political writing.
Seeing Red: The Reader’s Digest during the McCarthy Era • Marianne Russ, Ohio University • A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the Reader’s Digest from 1950 to 1954 finds that the popular magazine’s fanatically anti-Communist tone was often emphasized through articles that originated at the Digest, rather than condensed reprints from other periodicals. Articles dealing with the threat of Communism in the U.S., justification for intervention in Communist countries, conditions behind the Iron Curtain, and military preparation are featured. Current events make historical research on such propaganda relevant.
Newsmagazine Coverage of AIDS, 1995-1996: Progress and Hope or Hype? • William P. Cassidy, Oregon • This study analyzes AIDS coverage in Newsweek, Time and U.S. News & World Report in 1995 and 1996 to assess if the tone of coverage changed following the early 1996 introduction of protease inhibitor drugs, Critics allege that following the introduction of these successful drug therapies, coverage became overly optimistic. Results show that the overall mean tone score of coverage was 1.17 (on a scale of 0-2) and that coverage became slightly more negative in 1996.
Counting Coup: A 1987-2000 Circulation History of Native Peoples, the First National Consumer Magazine about America’s First Peoples • Marcelyn M. Kropp, Ohio University • Since 1826, over two thousand newspapers and periodicals have been published in the United States about American Indians and Alaska Natives. This paper “counts coup” or tells the story of how one of those periodicals, Native Peoples, became the most widely circulated, national consumer magazine about contemporary American Indians ever published by chronicling its 1987-2000 circulation. Circulation reached an all-time high in 1993-1999 due to a partnership with the National Museum of the American Indians.
A Content Analysis of Advertising Visuals in the Magazine Advertisements: The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression • Daechun An, South Carolina • This content analysis of a sample of advertising from Time, New Yorker, and Saturday Evening Post during the 1920s and 1930s examined the impact of the national economic conditions on advertising and its visuals. This study suggests that the impact of national economic conditions in the 1920s and 1930s on the use of ad visuals in the mainstream magazine advertisements seemed visible. Photographs were more prevalent in the 1930s. Also, the use of literal visuals was dominant in the 1930s.
“The Best-Read Page Of ÔPure Reading Matter”Ô: Eleanor Roosevelt’s “If You Ask Me” And Mid-Century Feminism • Michael T. McGill, Bowling Green State University • Overlooked by journalism historians, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s Ladies’ Home Journal column — “If You Ask Me” — represents a blueprint of the women’s movement of the 1940s. Herself a feminist, Roosevelt used the Journal page as a public forum to discuss problems and obstacles confronting women’s roles in society, focusing particularly on the role of women in American politics, the equality of the sexes, the role of women during World War II, and the role of women in the workplace.
A Mediational Model of the Impact of Health and Beauty Magazine Reading on Body Shape Concerns Among A Group Of College-Age Women • Steven Thomsen, Brigham Young University • In the present study, data from a survey of 355 college-age women were used to test a structural equation model that examined three potential factors — hope, beliefs about men’s expectations for female thinness, and expected weight gain or loss in five years — that might mediate the relationship between reading health and fitness and beauty and fashion magazines and body shape and size concerns. The study found that health and fitness and beauty and fashion magazine reading are differentially related to body image concerns.
The Coverage of Prostate Cancer and Impotence in Four Magazines: 1991 -2000 • W. Buzz Hoon, Western Illinois University • The purpose of this study was to explore press coverage of two men’s health issues, prostate cancer and impotence, in magazines with large male readerships. Examined were issues of Gentleman’s Quarterly, Esquire, Men’s Health and Ebony published between 1991 and 2000. Results show magazines ran more articles on the issues after 1995; coverage was usually presented in an informational manner; content provided information on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the diseases; and men wrote most of the stories.
How Those Diamond Girls Did Shine: The Influence of Publicity and Promotion on Magazine Coverage Of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League • Andi Stein, California State-Fullerton • This is an examination of the role publicity and promotion played in the establishment of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and exploration of the link between these promotional efforts and magazine coverage that resulted from them. This link is analyzed by reviewing various promotional strategies used as part of the publicity efforts of the MGPBL and assessing how these strategies were reflected in magazine articles written about the League between 1943-1954.
Do They ÔPlay Like Girls”? A Look At Advertising Photographs In Four Women’s Sport Magazines • Marie Hardin, West Georgia, Susan Lynn, Florida State University and Kristie Walsdorf, Florida State • This study examines advertising photographs in four women’s sports and fitness magazines, to ascertain the presence of sexual difference and to differentiate between advertising messages in the magazines. Researchers found strong support for sexual difference Shape advertisements, and, at the other end of the spectrum, rejection of sexual difference in Real Sports. The now-defunct Women’s Sports and Fitness, and Sports Illustrated for Women provided some support for sexual difference in their advertisements.
A Longitudinal Quantitative Study of Gender and Related Determinants in U.S. Consumer Magazines • David Abrahamson, Rebecca Lynn Bowman, Mark R. Greer and William Brian Yeado, Northwestern University • In an effort to examine a-number of fundamental questions about the U.S. consumer magazine publishing industry in a historical context, the research of a baseline 1991 quantitative study was duplicated exactly 10 years later employing the same research methodology. It is evident that gender-specificity continues-to be an important determinant in the shape of the U.S. consumer magazine industry: Significantly more publications are aimed at male readers, and they tend to be smaller in circulation than women’s magazines, but this difference in circulation size is clearly narrowing.
Black Women’s Portrayals in Essence, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Working Woman on the Brink of the 21st Century • Teresa Mastin, Alison Coe, Sheri Hamilton and Sheila Tarr, Middle Tennessee State University • This study attempted to determine whether a pattern of racial separation and hierarchy found in a study that examined Black’s portrayals in television commercials would emerge in a print medium. In particular, the study examined Black women’s portrayals in three women’s magazine advertisements during the last decade of the 20th, century. Results indicate that women’s magazine advertisements that include Black women more often present images reinforcing racial division than images promoting racial acceptance and equality.
Helping Women Save Their Marriages: A Content Analysis of the Marriage Advice Given In Ladies’ Home Journal Articles from the 1950s and 1950s • Renee Martin Kratzer, Missouri • Ladies’ Home Journal dispenses marital advice in the department called “Can This Marriage Be Saved.” This popular department, which debuted in 1953, presents case files from various counselors. The articles reveal people’s marital problems and the counselor’s solutions for saving the marriage. A content analysis of articles from the 1950s and the 1950s reveals that the advice given to the spouses changed over time, and that this department serves to reinforce social norms of marriage.
Marriage, Magazines and Makeup Tips: A Comparative Content Analysis of Brides Magazine and Glamour Magazine • Vincent F. Filak, Missouri • Researchers have often argued that women’s magazines present a shallow and narrow view of what women want to know. Articles and advertisements are geared mostly toward beauty and fashion, ignoring deeper needs and non-consumer-driven issues. This paper argues that bridal magazines follow the same pattern in terms of advertising and content while receiving little criticism from the academic press.
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