Magazine Division 2010 Abstracts
Esquire’s Man the Kitchenette: Representations of Men, Masculinity & Cooking • Elizabeth Fakazis, University Wisconsin Stevens Point • This paper examines representations of masculinity and domestic cooking in Esquire’s Man the Kitchenette, a cooking column for men published in the 1940s. Using qualitative content analysis, I examine how these representations recoded an interest in food and domestic cooking (as well as other traditionally feminine interests) as appropriately masculine, nurturing the development of the positive image of the male consumer, and paving the way for the emergence of future men’s lifestyle and culinary magazines.
Visual Framing of Patriotism and National Identity on the Covers of Der Spiegel • Andrea Pyka, San Jose State University; Scott Fosdick, San Jose State University • Patriotism in Germany has been a controversial issue since the Nazi era. A content analysis revealed that despite the fear and hesitations surrounding the idea of German pride, Der Spiegel, one of Germany’s national newsmagazines, showed an increasing visual presence of patriotic and national identity symbols on its covers following key historical events: the building of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, the adoption of the Euro, and the 2006 World Cup.
Photographic Images of Gender and Race Portrayed in Sports Illustrated Kids, 2000-2009 • Ashley Furrow, Ohio University • This study examines photographic images in a popular children’s sport magazine called Sports Illustrated Kids for gender and racial differences in the way the athletes are visually portrayed. Gender and/or racial messages in photographs may have a profound impact on children because children understand meanings in pictures before they understand meanings in text. Since Sports Illustrated Kids caters to young, impressionable readers who are especially vulnerable to the power of photographs, it is important to study the photographic images of gender and race found in its pages. Content analysis of editorial photographs during a 10-year period reveals that the gender inequality gap in the magazine is more skewed during its second 10 years than it was during the first 10 years of its publication. As for a racial difference, African American and White athletes have equal coverage, but Asian and Hispanic athletes are still fighting for representation in the magazine. Overall, female athletes remain underrepresented in all editorial photographs and framed more often than men in inferior ways.
Hype Artists, Con Men, Pimps and Dopesters: The Personal Journalism of Harry Crews • Ted Geltner, Valdosta State University • During the 1970s and ’80s, novelist Harry Crews was a prolific contributor of non-fiction articles for Playboy, Esquire and a number of other publications. His work places him among the writers who defined the genre of literary journalism during this era. This study examines the content, style and innovations associated with Crews’ journalism and the author’s attitude and approach toward his craft.
Madame’s Most Excellent Adventures: US News Magazines Coverage of the 1943 and 1948 Visits to the United States by Madame Chiang Kai-shek • Daniel Haygood, Elon University • Henry Luce, a promoter of Chinese General Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist party during World War II, is accused of using Madame Chiang as part of his strategy to generate support among Americans for the Chinese. This paper reviews US news magazines’ coverage of Madame Chiang’s two trips to America in 1943 and 1948 to raise American support for China. The analysis demonstrates that Time had a more complex framing of Madame Chiang than other news magazines.
Psychological and sociological motives for fashion magazine use among Shanghai’s female college students • Zhengjia Liu, Iowa State University • This study investigates the impact of psychological and sociological motives on the use of fashion magazines among female college students in Shanghai. An online survey was conducted. Three psychological motives were found to be significant predictors of fashion magazine use. The sociological motives did not significantly influence fashion magazine use. The findings suggest that sociological motives may not directly affect media use, but are nonetheless related to psychological motivations that predict media consumption.
The Growth of International Women’s Magazine and Media Portrayal of Women in China • jingyi luo, southern illinois university • Along with the process of globalization is the growth of global media. With the wave of global economy and the spread of transnational companies, the world’s biggest global publishing groups have increasingly extended their reach into China, especially the Western publishing groups. Besides, Japanese publishing giants also enter China, including Shufunotom Publishing Group, Kodansha Publishing Group, and Shogakukan Publishing Group. Nowadays, the women’s magazine industry in China is mainly constructed of three styles of magazines: Western-style magazines, Japanese-style magazines and Chinese local magazines. Women’s magazines deliver media content through a face— the cover. Covers are advertisements of women’s magazines to attract readers. Covers are, at the same time, a media genre, which is subject to social changes and indicates social and cultural changes in a society. Through a content analysis on media portrayal of women on the covers of major magazines in China, it was found that the Western-style women’s magazine constructed its international image through characteristic global title, Caucasian models and a large proportion of celebrity stories; while the Japanese-style women’s magazine tended to portray women as young and fashion to attract readers and advertisers. Facing the competition from international media, it is found that the local women’s magazine chose to adjust their style and content but in a similar genre with the international women’s magazine. However, whether hybridity or mix was a wise strategy for their growth and how the Chinese local women’s magazine industry will prosper is pressing problem for the Chinese local women’s magazines.
Gourmet Magazine’s Depiction of the American Gourmet: A longitudinal content analysis, 1945-2008 • Lanier Norville, The University of Alabama; Jennifer Greer, University of Alabama • A longitudinal content analysis of Gourmet over its 68-year lifespan indicated that, both through topics covered and writing approaches used, the magazine largely defined the American gourmet experience as an elitist pursuit. However, the founding principle of Gourmet – making the gourmet lifestyle more accessible to the average American – was a strong sub-theme throughout the magazine’s history. Accessible topics were covered throughout, and articles were written with both elitist and accessible approaches.
The Magazine Industry 2000 to 2010 • David E. Sumner, Ball State University • Stories about the print media since 2000 have reported on closings of well-known newspapers and steadily declining circulations of others. The general public assumes that magazines have shared in the same fate. While magazines have struggled to remain profitable and some have folded, the general health of the industry remains greater than that of newspapers. The purpose of this paper is to provide a status report of the economic state of magazines between 2000 and 2010. It reports data on magazine startups and closings, circulation trends, and revenue trends. This research uses latest available data from trade and proprietary sources not available online or to the general public. The results note that the number of new magazines launched exceeded the number of magazines that closed or folded between 2007 and 2009. The circulation of 50 leading consumer magazines declined by six percent between 2000 and 2009. However, 32 gained in circulation while 18 lost circulation during those years. Total magazine revenue grew 1.1 percent annually between 2000 and 2008, and then declined 5.4 percent between 2008 and 2009. The outlook for 2010 remains cautiously optimistic with some sectors and companies reporting revenue increases. The report concludes that some magazines will have to adapt, restructure or downsize. More may close. But print magazines will likely remain viable for generations to come. The portability, affordability and accessibility of print magazines cannot be replaced by digital mobile devices.
Seeing is Believing: Using Eye Tracking to Examine the Media’s Influence on Disordered Eating Risk • Steven Thomsen, Brigham Young University; Hannah Gibby, Brigham Young University; Joseph Eldridge, Brigham Young University • The goal of this study was to test the robustness of magazine affinity as both a direct and indirect causal antecedent to measures of eating disorder risk and empirically observable pupillary reactions (eye movement and fixation density patterns) to ultra-thin body images through a structural equation model. Data were collected from 109 college-age women whose eyes were tracked while they viewed images of ultra-thin body parts taken from popular women’s magazines. The women also completed a survey instrument to assess magazine reading habits, internalization of the thin ideal, eating disorder risk, and an inclination to make social comparisons. Findings indicate that magazine affinity, not reading frequency, is the best predictor (both directly and indirectly) of eating disorder risk and visual response to ultra-thin images.
What Black Women Need to Know? Breast Cancer Coverage in African-American Magazines • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida; Heather Edwards, SAIC-Frederick • This paper describes an analysis of breast cancer articles from Essence, Ebony and O, the Oprah Magazine. Of 55 articles about breast cancer published during the 6-year period, only three mentioned age as the most important risk factor for breast cancer. The articles were four times as likely to mention family history of breast cancer as a risk factor, and only 40% of articles mentioning the need for regular mammograms were coded as fully accurate.
The Consumer-Citizen: Life Magazine’s Construction of the Ideal American • Sheila Webb, Western Washington University • This paper examines the first decade of Life and places it in the current debates on citizenship and consumption. As a new definition of citizen developed that related active consumption to participation in democracy, Life visualized this change by tying consumption to the American way of life. Selected photo-essays show how the editors shaped middle class culture through consumption scenarios that informed their audience of taste standards. Methodology: archival research, textual analysis, content analysis.
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