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A prolegomenon to a Los Angeles arts and culture magazine

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A prolegomenon to a Los Angeles arts and culture magazine

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Content Copyright 2002 A PROLEGOMENON TO A LOS ANGELES ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE by Mahshid M. Hariri A Professional Project Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (PRINT JOURNALISM) August 2002 Mahshid M . Hariri Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1414901 UMI UMI Microform 1414901 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA The G raduate School University Park LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90089-1695 This thesis, w ritten b y U nder th e direction o f h.<X.. Thesis has been p resen ted to an d accepted b y The Graduate School, in p a rtia l fulfillm ent o f requirem ents fo r th e degree o f HA^TGCF Ap-TC n t porc. MlU V \ . W ^ \ g - \ C om m ittee, and approved b y a ll its members, lean o f Graduate Studies D ate A ugust 6 , 2002 THESIS COMMITTEE tairperson Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................iii Chapter Page 1 . INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE................................1 2. CREATING THE CORE PERSONALITY....................................................2 3. THE EDITOR’S INSTINCT...........................................................................5 4. GUIDING WRITERS.....................................................................................9 5. CULTURAL CHANGES AND THE POST 9/11 WORLD...................... 10 6. THE DOMINANCE OF CELEBRITY JOURNALISM..............................13 7. THE POWER OF PUBLIC RELATIONS....................................................14 8. THE LOS ANGELES MARKET..................................................................15 The Past The Present The Competition 9. THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF ADVERTISING, CONTENT AND READERSHIP..............................................................................................21 10. THE COVER, ART AND DESIGN............................................................ 23 11. SUPERNOVAS AND SHOOTING STARS: LESSONS FROM TALK AND MADEMOISELLE..................................... 24 12. A DYING NICHE? OLD-SCHOOL LITERARY MAGAZINES 27 13. THE NEW NICHES......................................................................................28 14. IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME....................................................30 15. THE FUTURE...............................................................................................31 BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................35 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iii ABSTRACT This project attempts to summarize the complex factors that go into the creation and establishment of successful magazines in general, with the ultimate goal of distilling that research in order to create a magazine geared towards the arts and culture of Los Angeles. This project includes interviews with editors of both national and Los Angeles-based magazines ranging from Playboy and Westways, to the Los Angeles Times Magazine and the L.A. Weekly. It discusses the magazines’ various editorial philosophies, as well as their relationships with their readers, advertisers and competition. This paper will also examine the range of topics covered in modem magazines from the literary New Yorker to the lifestyle- oriented Los Angeles magazine in order to draw forth the elements essential to any magazine’s success. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 1. INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Magazines fill an odd place in our lives. We linger over them for days and weeks, maybe more, carefully perusing the pages for the image or article that speaks to us. We tuck the thin literary ones in to our bags for reading over a cup of coffee, or leave them on our bedstands for reading before going to bed. The big glossy ones adorn our coffee tables, and have arresting covers that aim to spark interest in the contents within. Within those pages we look for entertainment, for education, inspiration, and perhaps, a little bit of ourselves. At least that’s what advertisers are counting on. The regular magazine reader is both a coveted and difficult fish to hook. Unlike newspapers, some would argue, that magazines are not an indispensable source of quick, daily information. For most, magazines are a luxury that expand upon an already established interest in the news, commentary, literature, culture, arts, products, services, and, of course, celebrities. Most importantly magazines require time, and a certain dedication, a belief or trust, that the editors will not waste that precious commodity of which the reader has increasingly less. Thus the prospect of creating a new magazine amidst the corpses of 2001 and 2002 is daunting. A new magazine, especially one based in Los Angeles, must bring something novel and unique to both readers and advertisers. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the complex factors that go into the creation and establishment of successful magazines in general, with the ultimate goal of distilling that research in order to create a successful magazine geared towards the arts and culture in Los Angeles. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 To that end this paper will examine both national and Los Angeles-based magazines ranging from Playboy and Westways, to the Los Angeles Times Magazine and the L.A. Weekly. This paper will discuss their editorial philosophies as well as their relationships with their readers, advertisers and their competition. This paper will also examine the range of topics covered in modem magazines from the literary New Yorker to the lifestyle-oriented Los Angeles magazine in order to draw forth the elements essential to any magazine’s success. 2. CREATING THE CORE PERSONALITY Probably the most important facet of a magazine and the key to a magazine’s success is its “personality.” A magazine’s personality is that intangible mix of subjects, voices, photos and graphics that attract certain readers, and which ultimately combine to find a particular audience and fill a particular niche within the marketplace. While Time and Newsweek are news magazines, some are loyal readers of one while deriding the other. Similarly, Vanity Fair has its followers as do fashion magazines such as Vogue and Bazaar and lifestyle magazines such as O. There are local magazines that appeal to a national audience and national magazines that have a loyal international readership. However, for every magazine that seems to fit neatly within one category or another, there are many more which, like people, escape definition. Magazines that combine several elements or areas of interest, though, can fill a particular niche that appeals to readers and advertisers alike. Regardless of the type or niche, creating a strong magazine personality, with which the reader ultimately identifies, is one of the essential keys to success. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 “Successful magazines that have a strong identity, even though they’ve evolved and changed over the years, to a certain extent have their own personalities,” says Stephen Randall, executive editor of Playboy magazine.1 Randall says that Playboy is an “aspirational” magazine, “for the young man who wants to make more money, have a more expensive car” but also wants “a bit of seriousness melded in with the fun.”2 As a result, Playboy performs what Randall refers to as the “high-low act.”3 Its personality straddles the line between content devoid of any real intellectual content, such as the nude pictorials, and serious pieces which often examine popular authors and other significant cultural figures.4 “ Playboy to me has a very distinct personality,” comments Randall, which stems from its creator Hugh Hefner, who was able “to take what had never really been merged into one package such as party jokes, pictures of nude women, and also have serious stuff.”5 Playboy is not the only magazine to perform the “high-low act.” The New Yorker, which, in many ways, is on the opposite end of the theoretical magazine spectrum from Playboy, does it too, claimed former Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown. In 1998, after five years at the helm of the iconic weekly, Brown said that she felt that The New Yorker had hit its stride, communicated an identity, and delivered consistent 1 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001, Los Angeles, tape recording. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 4 quality with a “unified energy.”6 Brown also said that often it is the juxtaposition of pieces that will interest and keep a reader, and which ultimately leads to a richer magazine. “Sometimes it’s about the mixture of things. I think that things can be more interesting when they’re with another thing... That’s what I try to do every week is to keep balancing the high-low aspect, too,” she said.7 Though magazines evolve over time in response to cultural trends, often a magazine’s personality does not and in fact, should not, escape its history. Los Angeles Times Magazine Senior Features Editor Martin Smith notes that the Los Angeles Times Magazine is in many ways perceived as a lifestyle magazine with an emphasis on home, design, entertaining and gardening.8 Though it is clearly a family magazine aimed at a general audience, and includes serious investigative pieces with strong narrative writing, Smith notes that many readers fondly remember Home Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Magazine's much-loved forerunner.9 He says: To this day, people still call this Home Magazine, because it was hugely popular. Readers loved it. It was about barbecuing in the backyard, it was about slip-covering the couch. People love that stuff, and there is a component of the Sunday reading public that just loves it. I would never want to see that disappear from the magazine. It continues to be the image leader of the magazine.1 0 6 Tina Brown, “Tina Brown Describes Roles o f Editor, Diana, PM Blair,” interview by Charlie Rose (The Charlie Rose Show, PBS) 13 January 1998. 7 Ibid. 8 Martin Smith, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times Magazine, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 23 May 2002, Los Angeles, tape recording. 9 Ibid. 1 0 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Further, Smith adds that an essential part of the magazine’s editorial philosophy is the focus on the interests of the local Southern Californian reader. He says: People don’t go into the Starbucks looking for the Los Angeles Times Magazine - there is no national audience... .Regardless of how ambitious we are editorially, that’s the reality of who our readers are. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s a strength, not a weakness. But as a magazine, I think we can better define ourselves as a local magazine. We can tell national stories, but they have to be done through that prism of Southern California.1 1 Magazines that are alternatives to the mainstream, large, commercial publications also struggle to define their identity, which is sometimes dependent upon the magazine’s political bent. The L.A. Weekly, a free alternative publication, is, according to Articles Editor Tom Christie, best known for its “left-leaning, if not leftist” political perspective, which “is an important part of the magazine’s history, its past, and its future.”1 2 Christie says that despite the magazine’s clear political agenda, it still struggles to find its niche noting, “Some people think we’re not as alternative as we should be, some people think we’re too alternative.”1 3 3. THE EDITOR’S INSTINCT At the helm of every successful magazine is a determined editor with a vision and an intuitive sense of the magazine’s mission, its readership and its unique niche within the magazine market. The best editors can spot the a writer with a distinctive voice to contribute and story ideas that are ahead of the cultural curve, but not so ahead that they are off of the collective radar. Above all, the best editors know how to keep 1 1 Ibid. 1 2 Tom Christie, articles editor, LA . Weekly, interview by Sorina Diaconescu, 22 May 2002, Los Angeles, tape recording. 1 3 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 6 their readers interested and their content in tune with the personality of the magazine and its readership. Tina Brown credits part of her successes as an editor at The New Yorker and at Vanity Fair to her “populist navel.” She says, “I tend to find that what interests me interests everybody else;...I'm just a bit of a lightning rod.”1 4 Brown explains that her editorial gift stems not only from an innate sense of curiosity, but also a sense of timing. She continues: I think that the things that I’m curious about it turns out that other people are curious about them, too... I think I do have a sense of timing. I think it’s very important not only to have the right piece, but to have it at the right time. In fact, I think that the right piece at the wrong time is the wrong piece.”1 5 Indeed, for many of its readers, The New Yorker’ s selection of topics and authors both determines and reflects the readers’ world view. “Because most people, I think, today, just feel completely overwhelmed,” Brown says, “and they’re so overwhelmed they just check out.”1 6 Thus The New Yorker's role, Brown claims, is to act like a sieve, sorting out the important stories, opinions and views which can “nurture people.”1 7 Brown explains: This magazine is a magazine of interpretation, most of all, and of intelligent leadership. And so our role is to lead you through this morass. We are the pilot fish that can swim ahead and actually tell you what is important, and sift it and can give you an idea and a point of view to take away from all of this.1 8 1 4 Tina Brown, interview by Charlie Rose, 13 January 1998. 1 5 Ibid. 1 6 Ibid. 1 7 Ibid. 1 8 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 7 For Brown, the content of a great magazine is like a well-balanced multi-course dinner, with lighter sides and at least one hearty dish that has been “marinating away” for six months, and is now ready for consumption. Brown comments: The idea was to have something that was both timely and timeless, that had always a currency strand, always the piece that you had to read that week, and then another piece that had been much slower in the cooking... And you would just drop it in and wrap around it pieces that would give the reader instant gratification, so that they were able to go to the newsstand and have a real reason to buy, but then when they bought it they could sink into something that was even more satisfying.1 9 Randall reiterates Brown’s point, noting that the combination of light-hearted and more serious articles in Playboy varies according to the times. Moreover, Randall says that his decisions about the content of the magazine must fit within Playboy s personality as a magazine aimed at young men.2 0 He says his success at Playboy, where he has been editor for more than 20 years, ultimately stems from the fact that he was able to internalize the magazine’s personality and now makes decisions about the content of the magazine based on his intuition. “I can explain it after the fact, but mostly I don’t have to think about it.”2 1 At the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Smith takes a different approach to find content that fits with the magazine’s connection to the daily, and its family-oriented Sunday readership. Smith says that the kind of stories that fit within the personality of the magazine are “off the news.”2 2 The ideal stories for the magazine, he notes, “take a 1 9 Ibid. 2 0 Stephen Randall, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001. 2 1 Ibid. 2 2 Martin Smith, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 23 May 2002. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8 general step back from the news, to a broader perspective.2 3 In this way, pieces maintain their timeliness, but add layers of nuance that cannot be included in the daily newspaper. Smith says, “We can’t have things that are right on the news. We are obligated to find things that are timely, but we can step back and ask, ‘What’s this story really about?”2 4 He continues: If we’re doing a profile, it can’t just be about that one person. They have to be involved in something that tells a bigger story, and the newspaper can do some of that to a certain extent, but they can’t do it as well or as visually as a magazine can. The magazine is the part that people can pull out and read at their leisure, as opposed to digesting that day and moving on to the next day.2 5 Smith’s editorial philosophy incorporates his experience as a novelist, and also adheres to the notion that good journalism should possess an uplifting or redemptive quality. “There is a basic rule of fiction that until your reader cares about the character, you’re never going to engage them in the story, because they don’t care what happens to the character.” He continues: For me, a strong magazine story is one where there is a good guy. There’s somebody you can feel good about, as opposed to just peering through the windows and seeing these loathsome people doing loathsome things to each other... We do have the luxury of not being voyeuristic, we can demand a higher standard from stories.2 6 Smith cites a recent example where he turned down a story about date rape and drugs where “there was nothing but sleaze and corruption.”2 7 His comments to the writer _ _ _ 24 Ibid. 2 5 Ibid, 2 6 Ibid. 27 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 9 proposed a broader take on the issues at stake in the piece, such as the pervasive difficulty in prosecuting date rape cases, but Smith was unsure how willing the writer was to change the focus2 8 4. GUIDING WRITERS Smith’s communications with the writer in the example above highlights another important facet of the editor’s job, which is to create an environment in which writers feel at home. Editors are conscious of the fact that, above all, they must keep the reader interested. At the same time, the editor must combine the various voices that make up the pieces in the magazine and which must be delicately balances to create a unified whole that the reader can easily embrace and digest. If magazines, per Tina Brown’s analogy, are a several course meal, then part of the editor’s job is to ensure that the ingredients and spices won’t upset the reader’s stomach. Smith describes the editorial process as an ongoing discussion with the writer and the editorial board.2 9 Ideally, he says, the writer develops a story idea, does the research, then pitches it to one of the magazine’s editors, who works with writer to focus and define the story.3 0 The editorial board then meets to discuss whether the story, as well as the writer, are a good fit for the magazine.3 1 Brown took a similar approach to finding the right voices to create the remarkable collection of pieces that graced The New Yorker's pages to the delight of 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid. 3 1 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 10 800,000 readers during her tenure.3 2 Brown says, “I talk to people about their ideas and then make them happen in some shape or form.”3 3 More importantly, though, she notes that an editor must be able to recognize what drives a writer in order to extract from him or her the most interesting, most compelling work. She says: I think you need to go with the passions of your writers as much as you possibly can. And it happens to me time and again that I’ll call a writer in to talk about an idea that I have and then we’ll get onto something else. And I’ll see the light in the writer’s eyes when they talk about that subject. And I switch and I say, ‘No, forget that. Write about this. This is what turns you on.’... So that’s really the quest - to find the story that makes the writer’s eyes light up.3 4 5. CULTURAL CHANGES AND THE POST 9/11 WORLD In order to continue to be relevant to its readership, a magazine, like other outlets of popular culture, must be sensitive and responsive to the changing sensibilities of society. Though successful magazines all possess an identifiable core personality, the most successful magazines are the ones that evolve with their readers changing expectations. A magazine that ceases to evolve, or evolves in the wrong direction, will quickly lose its readership and advertising base. Thus, along with the pressures of finding just the right pieces and writers to publish, editors must be conscious of important cultural trends, and ensure that those trends are reflected within the magazine’s pages. “[T]he content of magazines over the last two years, was significantly different than the content of the previous two years, and the content of 2002 by virtue of 3 2 Tina Brown, interview by Charlie Rose, 13 January 1998. 3 3 Ibid. 34 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 11 changing times is going to be different than 2001,” says Stephen Randall.3 5 “If you are a really careful reader you can look at Vanity Fair or any other magazine and see how they adapt. Because sometimes, very minor things affect the culture.”3 6 Randall cites an illustrative example: Monica Lewinsky affected the culture in a lot of different ways. Things became more explicit... I don’t recall before Monica Lewinsky oral sex being much discussed at all, and then you went through a period of time when you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a blow job joke. All these things affect the culture, and particularly pop culture things like TV, magazines, less-so newspapers. We react accordingly, that’s our job.3 7 The effects of Monica Lewinsky on the American culture, however, pale in comparison to the effects of September 11. For the magazine industry, September 11 had both philosophical as well as economic consequences. At the economic level, at the 2001 conference of Magazine Publishers of America, held less than two months after the attacks, the magazine industry reported a $1 billion loss in advertising, despite evidence that news magazines had increased in readership.3 8 As a testament to that loss, Mademoiselle and Talk magazines folded, citing lower advertising revenue as the major cause.3 9 3 5 Stephen Randall, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001. 3 6 Ibid. 37 Ibid. 3 8 “Regarding Media; Magazine Moguls Meet Amid Doom and Gloom,” Los Angeles Times, 26 October 2001. 3 9 “Talk to Utter Its Final Issue,” Los Angeles Times, 19 January 2002; “Au Revoir to an Icon,” Los Angeles Times, 4 October 2001. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 12 In response to the decline in advertising, magazines became noticeably thinner, with fewer, shorter articles, and editors also began relying on staff writers as opposed to hiring out freelancers. In February 2002, The New York Times reported a freelancing glut created by the disappearance of major magazines including George, Working Woman, Lingua Franca, Brill's Content, and The Industry Standard, as well as the demise of many Internet sites.4 0 Martin Smith at the Los Angeles Times Magazine and Tom Christie at the L.A. Weekly attest to the reality that freelancers are momentarily out of luck. Both editors say that they are relying more on staff writers than before due to economic considerations.4 1 Smith also acknowledges that the economic reality post-September 11 compelled the magazine to start running shorter stories, though he also sees an upside. He says: We have started to run shorter stories in the last six or eight months, because we can’t pay $3,000 to $4,000 for a story anymore. What we can pay is a couple of thousand dollars, smaller amounts. What that has required us to do is find shorter stories, which I think is great. Not everybody reads 3,000,4,000,4,500 words - the lengths have come down. We’re doing different kinds of stories because of the economic situation.4 2 Besides battling declining ad revenues, magazines that fail to adjust to the changing temperament of their readers risk losing their audience. Post-September 11 industry leaders realized that philosophically, they would also have to learn to play by 40 “Urban Tactic; Have Pen, Will Grovel,” New York Times, 3 February 2002. 4 1 Martin Smith, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 23 May 2002; Tom Christie, interview by Sorina Diaconescu, 22 May 2002. 42 Martin Smith, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 23 May 2002. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 13 new rules. Stephen Randall predicts that, “[Readers] will be in a more serious mood, especially in the first part of 2002.5 ,4 3 Indeed, in the wake of September 11, publishers and editors questioned the propriety of light, celebrity-oriented coverage, the meat-and-potatoes of many modem magazines. At the 2001 conference of Magazine Publishers of America conference, Esquire editor David Granger proudly announced to the gathered crowd that he had removed Cameron Diaz as the cover story for November 2001, and replaced it with “a very serious, very dark, very celeb-free” cover.4 4 However, the December cover would feature George Clooney and Julia Roberts. “The cover and story are delightful,” he explained, “and delight has power.’”4 5 Clearly the age of celebrity-joumalism is far from over. 6. THE DOMINANCE OF CELEBRITY JOURNALISM Indeed, despite initial predictions, the national obsession with celebrities has far from waned. Former editor of Spy and New York magazines Kurt Andersen writes: The celebrity industry -the bedazzled magazines, the breathlessly inconsequential infotainment programs, the whole fun, fluffy fraction of the culture - was supposed to be among the collateral damage of Sept. 11. It was going to be impossible henceforth for any thinking, feeling, American to watch the Golden Globes or even think about the National Enquirer. Our interest in Tom Cruise and Britney Spears would evaporate... At press time, no such paradigm shift has occurred.4 6 4 3 Stephen Randall, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001. 44 “Regarding Media; Magazine Moguls Meet Amid Doom and Gloom,” Los Angeles Times, 26 October 2001 . 4 5 Ibid. 4 6 Kurt Andersen, “Only Gossip,” New York Times Magazine, 3 March 2002. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 14 Anderson notes that it is no coincidence that People magazine is the most successful American periodical to have been started in 70 years.4 7 Further, People’s 1994 spinoff InStyle, is among the most successful magazines of the past 20 years along with Vanity Fair and “two magazines extruded directly from the persona of multimedia celebrities - Oprah Winfrey’s O and Martha Stewart Living,”4 8 Moreover, Andersen rightly asserts that celebrity coverage has seeped into newspapers and general interest magazines that devote more and more of their pages and covers to celebrities and pop culture, like “just another category of things culturally engaged people are supposed to be interested in, like politics, business and sports.”4 9 Ultimately, Andersen’s point is that media outlets that pander to the celebrity denominator are enormously successful because they embody our national obsession with fame, created and perpetuated by the historic symbiotic partnership of journalists and publicists. 7. THE POWER OF PUBLIC RELATIONS The partnership of motion picture studios’ public relations machinery and the press, though, may be an unavoidable, sometimes even desirable, result of how the modem media operate. Editors can only resist the onslaught of press releases, publicists and public relations managers up to a point and, often times, their resistance may be counter-productive, since the public is clamoring for celebrity coverage. Andersen writes: 4 8 Ibid. 4 9 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 15 Forty and 80 years ago, the P.R. machinery was designated to operate secretly, invisibly, in the background. What’s happened since has been the foregrounding of spin: today the same media that are propagandizing us inform us exactly how we are being propagandized.5 0 “Yet,” he concludes, “this new transparency and the resulting pandemic of sawy doesn’t seem to make the publicity machine any less effective,”5 1 perhaps, because, journalists and editor are willing participants dependent on publicists for information essential to their readership. “Sometimes you are at the mercy of [celebrities] and their ‘people’,” says Heather John, senior style editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine, “but at a certain level, you have to see it these people are just doing their jobs.”5 2 John says she has built a lot of productive relationships, though she leaves hordes of solicitations unanswered, and doesn’t allow the public relations machine to cloud her editorial judgment.5 3 “I appreciate publicists checking in with me, because I have to know what’s going on out there... but I’m not going to profile someone unless it makes sense.”5 4 8. THE LOS ANGELES MARKET Though most magazines, if not all modem media, are affected by the dominance of celebrity news coverage, perhaps no other market is as affected as Los Angeles. 5 0 Ibid. 5 1 Ibid. 5 2 Heather John, Senior Style Editor, Los Angeles Times Magazine, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 5 June 2002, Los Angeles. 5 3 Ibid. 5 4 Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 16 Celebrities and Hollywood are woven in to the fabric of the city. Los Angeles -based magazines labor in the shadow of the movie studios and music industry, trying to give voice to the identity of the city which exists outside and in spite of Hollywood. Moreover, unlike in smaller, more local-oriented cities, Los Angeles-based magazines must be able compete with national magazines such as Esquire and Vanity Fair for readership as well as in terms of advertising. The Past The task of creating a successful Los Angeles-centered magazine that adequately and honestly reflects the city and its readers has proved to be a difficult one. In 1960, an ambitious Geoff Miller founded Los Angeles magazine with $50,000 startup money and small staff. The aim of the magazine was to celebrate “the unruly young city in all its contrary glory.”5 5 Miller writes: It would accept the community on its own terms, as the collection of villages it truly was, still looking for an identity, if not a center. It was indeed a city of infinite possibilities, where one could reinvent oneself daily, if so desired. Our magazine would sort out the possibilities, help the reader deal with all the newfound freedom to redefine his or her life. 6 Miller admits that, at the time, the Los Angeles market was ill-defined, which forced the editors “to think about what the particular target audience needed.”5 7 The result was a magazine devoted to service, filled with guides to restaurants, real estate, the best schools, and great weekend getaways.5 8 The magazine also embraced the 5 5 Geoff Miller, “L.A. Story,” Los Angeles Magazine, December 2000, 130. 5 6 Ibid. 5 7 Ibid. 5 8 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 17 Hollywood culture and began to feature celebrities regularly, but did so with a twist that presented celebrities as extraordinary citizens as opposed to visiting royalty.5 9 In 1976 Clay Felker, editor of New York magazine, launched New West, modeling it after New York magazine, with the entire West Coast as the audience.6 0 New West, however, which was eventually renamed California, struggled to maintain both a cohesive identity that would attract readers and a solid advertising base.6 1 Current Editor in Chief of Los Angeles magazine Kit Rachlis notes, “New West ('California) magazine had great journalism but no business plan.”6 2 “If you are a retailer in Rodeo Drive you are not interested in consumers in San Francisco and vice versa. Los Angeles based stores cannot afford to spread out to readers,”6 3 says Rachlis. Moreover New West’ s broad editorial appeal to a region, as opposed to a specific city or niche, was similarly doomed. Rachlis says, “Being a Californian is not an identity. It’s hard enough for someone to be an Angeleno and claim it as an identity. But to be a Californian is not going to necessarily affect your world view.”6 4 Both Los Angeles magazine and California were hard hit by the recession of the 1980s. California eventually folded leaving an opening for another magazine titled Buzz, which, according to Tom Christie who wrote a column for the competing 5 9 Ibid. 60 Ibid. 6 1 Ibid. 62Kit Rachlis, Editor-in-Chief, Los Angeles Magazine, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 March 2002, Los Angeles, tape recording. 6 3 Ibid. 64 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 18 California, aspired to be The New Yorker for Los Angeles 6 5 Buzz, though, also failed, partly because, according to Rachlis, it “was created by outsiders” and presented Los Angeles through the limited prism of the West Side 6 6 The Present When Rachlis took over the editorship of Los Angeles magazine in the late 1990s, he was keenly aware of the pitfalls of a magazine centered around Los Angeles, and the dangers of buying in to the outsiders view of “Los Angeles of myth and cliche.”6 7 Rachlis’s goal was to restructure the magazine to reflect the sophisticated interests of its audience: “Great culture and arts section, great service and great journalism on any subject.”6 8 He explained the driving editorial philosophy behind the magazine: [The magazine] should be both sophisticated and serious. I don’t mean serious as in lack of humor, I mean serious as in with serious intent. Serious enough that you’ll trust our judgment. Not that our judgment is that this is the only view of Los Angeles, as a matter of fact, ideally our view will be changing every month ~ that will be the constant - but we will give you our interpretation of Los Angeles every month.6 9 “I believe,” says Rachlis, “that if we do our jobs right, we will be indispensable to the people in the city and part of identity of reader.” Indeed, it seems that it is this identity that has eluded magazine producers in the past. Perhaps Angelenos are just too 6 5 Tom Christie, interview by Sorina Diaconescu, 22 May 2002. 66 Kit Rachlis, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 March 2002. 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid. 69 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 19 different from each other, and no magazine has found the precise formula that can adequately capture the interests of such a strange and diverse citizenship. Rachlis surmises that outsiders and the media have a simplistic view of Los Angeles culture that over-emphasizes some aspects while ignoring others. He says: Outsiders and the media tend to view Los Angeles as: one, very much this hippie, beach culture; two, as a kind of freak show; and three, simply as just a function of the entertainment industry.. .Now, the truth of the matter is that L.A. has all of those elements... But on the other hand, we are not the sum of all those things -- we’re not just those things. Rachlis believes that the inability of Los Angeles-based publications to adequately capture the various and ranging interests of the potential readership has created “a huge opportunity journalistically for a sophisticated glossy to be a sieve, to sort out the world for our readers.”7 0 Rachlis says that between the Los Angeles Times daily newspaper and the L.A. Weekly is a coverage gap which publications such as the Los Angeles magazine must and can fill.7 1 The Competition Regardless of the editorial ambitions of any sophisticated glossy publication that could attract and maintain Los Angeles subscribers, competition with national and Hollywood trade magazines is fierce. Unlike readers from other cities, Los Angeles readers are interested in national issues, and large, national magazines often provide the best and most comprehensive coverage. Stephen Randall credits the success of Texas 7 0 Ibid. 7 1 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 20 Monthly magazine, for example, to that magazine’s ability to fill the region’s localized niche. He says: One of the reasons Texas Monthly succeeds is because people don’t have to read other magazines that much, so that means that Texas Monthly as a magazine has a larger mandate of things to cover because it doesn’t really have to compete with GQ, Newsweek, and Vanity Fair. In Los Angeles, the opposite is true. They’re reading everything, which makes your job as a magazine harder, because you have to find a way to be of service to Los Angeles in a way that these other magazine are not already serving L.A.7 2 Tom Christie reiterates the point. He says, “I think they’re doing basically a good job at Los Angeles, but they still have the same problem: why do you need to read them? Maybe audiences are deciding that they need it, but you’re still competing with Vanity Fair and such.”7 3 Christie further notes that Los Angeles readers are also more focused on trade magazines: With this being Hollywood, there are the trades. A lot of people are already reading the LA Times, maybe the NY Times. Then they’ve got Variety and the Hollywood Reporter which they’re reading - it just adds up to too much competition.7 Moreover, Randall notes that magazines such as the Texas Monthly that operate on a smaller scale and without competition from national magazines, provide a healthy, captured advertising base for local advertiser. “It a stronger advertising base because if you are selling BMWs in Texas, the only way you can reach the people is through Texas Monthly, because they are not reading Vanity FairT7 5 7 2 Stephen Randall, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001. 7 3 Tom Christie, interview by Sorina Diaconescu, 22 May 2002 74 Ibid. 75Stephen Randall, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 21 9. THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF ADVERTISING, CONTENT AND READERSHIP Besides battling other magazines for turf, local magazines must also be able to sustain a readership that can attract a healthy advertising base. As previously discussed, part of California’s failure was in part due to its inability to attract advertisers on a regional scale. Thus, local magazines must be able and willing to court enough local advertisement to keep the magazine afloat. Former Associate Editor of Westways, Frances Ring spells out the financial realities. “[T] he number of pages of advertising determines the number of pages of the magazine. You have to have at least a quarter of your pages devoted to advertising,” she says.7 6 Magazines using various advertising to editorial ratios which provide a clue as to the strength of their advertising base. Playboy magazine, for example, which has a broad national readership, attracts national advertisers that endow the magazine’s remarkable 70:30 editorial to ad ratio, though, Randall also points out that a majority of the magazine’s income stems from sales as opposed to advertising.7 7 According to Kit Rachlis, the magazine industry standard is 60 percent advertising to 40 percent editorial pages. The Los Angeles magazine currently operates at 55 percent advertising pages to 45 percent editorial pages says Rachlis, who notes that Los Angeles magazine has more national advertisers than most local magazines.7 8 1 6 Frances Ring, former Associate Editor, Westways, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 November 2002, Los Angeles, tape recording. 77 Ibid. 7 8 Kit Rachlis, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 March 2002. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 22 As the major sources of income for most magazines, advertisers wield a certain amount of influence, even within editorial content. At Orange Coast magazine, Martin Smith said he felt that as editor in chief, he had about 85 percent control over the magazine’s content. The remaining 15 percent was necessarily dedicated to service- oriented pieces, like the “10 best restaurants of Orange County,” stories that would keep local advertisers, and thus the publisher, happy. Smith says frankly: Certainly the magazine had to provide an ad-friendly environment. So, for example you could let advertisers know that they would be part of a story on ‘Best Spas. ’ This created an environment where they wanted to be. That’s not cheating in my mind. That was the 15% dues that I had to pay to do the other 85%. That magazine was real thick, and nobody got compromised in my mind.7 9 At the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Smith has had just the opposite kind of experience. Since the magazine is part of the larger daily newspaper, the publisher is less concerned with hitting a target audience and appealing to advertisers looking to market within that target niche, says Smith.8 0 “It’s journalistic shangri-la,” he continues: There’s no pressure from advertisers to do any particular types of stories, or pressure from management to create a magazine that appeals to advertisers... .It’s pure editorial... But it’s not smart magazine economics, it’s dumb magazine economics. But it’s great journalism.8 Outside of the ‘ journalistic shangri-la’ that is the Los Angeles Times Magazine, magazine editors and publishers must balance the cost of circulation, which is enormous, with the income from advertising. Though it would seem that every 7 9 Martin Smith, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 23 May 2002. 8 0 Ibid. 8 1 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 23 magazine seeks to increase its circulation, Randall explains that there is a point at which increasing circulation increases the costs beyond profitability. He says: There’s a nexus - for us its 3.25 million - a point at which it wouldn’t be profitable for a magazine to increase its circulation, because at a certain point their costs will exceed the revenue and they would be too big for their particular advertising community to support.8 2 10. THE COVER, ART AND DESIGN As focused as editors are in creating editorial content that appeals both to their audience and to advertisers, they cannot underestimate the importance of the cover, as well as the art and design of the magazine, which enhance, and in some cases, define the magazine’s personality. “We have a very strong-willed art department here. I call them the tail that wags the dog,” says Randall of Playboy magazine’s art department.8 3 Randall further notes that like the written content, the art and design must also evolve with the times in response to cultural shifts and changes. He says, of Playboy. The look of the magazine has changed, I think, radically, over the years that I’ve been here... I think the magazine has a livelier, more energetic design now than it did three or four years ago, in the evolutionary sense as well... We package things in a way that is more reader-friendly, more fun, more interactive in order to compete appropriately with new magazines.”8 4 Moreover, magazines such as Flaunt, which has become known for its arresting multi-media covers (most recently a 3-D hologram of Spider-Man in action), rely on the design of their covers to draw readership both on and off the newsstands. Ring 8 2 Stephen Randall, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001. 8 3 Ibid. 84 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 4 notes that art illustration covers, except at The New Yorker, have become increasingly rare, with editors opting for color photographs.8 5 Christie notes that even at the L.A. Weekly, which is free, there is a definite correlation between a cover and an issue getting picked up8 6 Rachlis points out that of the best-selling issues of the 2001 three were service-related, another featured Laker prince Kobe Bryant, and one issue with a lead article titled “Hooking Up,” the cover of 0 7 which featured the bare midriff of a scantily clad bar-and party-hopper. 11. SUPERNOVAS AND SHOOTING STARS: LESSONS FROM TALK AND MADEMOISELLE “There are very few things that when they come on, they come on like a supernova,” says Randall, of Playboy magazine’s unparalleled success as a publication and, ultimately, as a cultural phenomenon8 8 If Playboy was a cultural supernova, then, perhaps, other magazines that attempted to tap into the cultural Zeitgeist, but were ultimately driven into extinction by the competition, are just shooting stars. “You can only be new once,” advises Randall, a statement proved ominously true by the recent demise of the young women’s magazine, Mademoiselle and of Tina Brown’s brainchild, Talk.8 9 8 5 Frances Ring, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 November 2002. 86 Tom Christie, interview by Sorina Diaconescu, 22 May 2002 8 7 Kit Rachlis, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 March 2002. 8 8 Stephen Randall, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001. 8 9 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 25 At the height of its success, Mademoiselle had successfully tapped into an as yet undiscovered niche of young professional, literary-minded women. It offered “visions of glamour and opportunity to generations” and created a venue for unknown writers and editors.9 0 Most importantly, though, it “created an archetype - the young, educated career woman who wanted style and substance - that became the industry standard.”9 1 However, over the years, the magazine’s identity changed in order to reflect the modem interests of its readers, to its detriment. The Los Angeles Times reports, “As Mademoiselle flailed about for an image that would address the current canonical themes of sex, fashion and the culture of consumption, it no longer commanded the percentage of readership it once had.” 9 2 In the past year the magazine’s circulation fell to number it had a decade ago, 1.1 million, which is less than half of the readership commanded by competitors Cosmopolitan and Glamour.9 3 By changing to fit within the modem conception of a young women’s magazine, Mademoiselle whittled away at its core personality and lost its audience. Ultimately, with a dozen magazines competing for the same readers, both within and outside at Mademoiselle's parent company Conde Nast, and declining ad revenues, it was only a matter of time before Mademoiselle was shut down.9 4 90 “Au Revoir to an Icon,” Los Angeles Times, 4 October 2001. 9 1 Ibid 9 2 Ibid. 9 3 Ibid. 94 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 26 As a joint venture between a general interest magazine, a book company and a movie studio, Talk was indeed a post-modern creation, one which “promised synergy and cooperation to benefit both sides.”9 5 (Brown was perhaps prescient with her aggressive marketing of the increasingly interchangeable media and entertainment outlets.) After two and half years, though the magazine, which had amassed a 675,000 readership, cited serious advertising losses after September 11, and folded.9 6 Critics noted that reduced advertising revenue was not the magazine’s only problem. The New York Times reported, “The magazine was thick with advertising at first. On the editorial side, though, rather than swiftly finding a consistent voice or a readily identifiable design, Talk meandered and experimented, with an ever-changing parade of editors and designers.”9 7 The magazine struggled to find just the right blend of voices and editors and, as with Mademoiselle, the constant evolution turned readers off. In the magazine’s defense, former editor Tina Brown said that launching and stabilizing a general interest magazine takes much longer than two and one-half years, and that given the chance Talk could have succeeded.9 8 Brown noted that general interest magazines are more expensive and more time consuming than fashion or lifestyle magazines because they have a “news gene” which requires that content be up 9 5 “Lifelines Cut, Talk Magazine Goes Silent,” New York Times, 19 January 2002. 96 Ibid. 97 Ibid. 9 8 Tina Brown, “Tina Brown Blames Recession, 9/11 for Demise o f Talk,” interview by Charlie Rose (The Charlie Rose Show, PBS) 24 January 2002. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 do date and broadens the pool of competitors." “Talk sought a general interest audience at a time when magazines, faced with declining readership, had begun steering toward safe harbors of niche audiences.”1 0 0 12. A DYING NICHE? OLD-SCHOOL LITERARY MAGAZINES Though clearly within a well-defined niche, the successful launch of a new literary magazine seems doubtful. Indeed, the audience for serious literary magazines across the board seems to be dwindling, and with it the advertising support necessary to keep a magazine in the marketplace. Literary magazines that have succeeded have done so partly because they established themselves early on, when competition was less fierce. Frances Ring comments: We’re a celebrity-oriented culture. We value fame, we love fame. Everything is style, everything is glamour. There are a few [literary magazines] that have survived over the years, like The Nation and Harper’ s, but they were started a long time ago. I don’t know if they were started today, if they’d survive. They have a built-in readership that enables them to keep going.1 0 1 Stephen Randall concurs: The New Yorker is kept alive because Sy Newhouse wants it to be alive and has enough money to do that... If you are looking at it from a realistic, business financial standpoint, if you could own The New Yorker, or InStyle, you would own Instyle. And you’d be really wealthy. I can’t even read InStyle, it’s incomprehensible to me. But I can tell you it does phenomenally well. That’s just the reality of life.”1 0 2 "Ibid. 1 0 0 Ibid. 1 0 1 Frances Ring, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 November 2002. 1 0 2 Stephen Randall, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 28 In 1998, Tina Brown claimed that The New Yorker had 225,000 new readers, proving that not only were audiences still interested in serious literary magazines, but they “had great need for this kind of publication.”1 0 3 Brown acknowledged that in the past The New Yorker relied on faithful followers who just took the magazine as part of their routine.1 0 4 She says: The great luxury that The New Yorker had in the old days is that it didn't earn its interest. People took it. There wasn't a great deal of competition. There was New York magazine. There were none of these other things. It was a very small-media climate. People just bought it, and eventually they would read it. In today’s competitive marketplace, though, Brown said that The New Yorker is forced to “seduce” its audience, compete for the best, most interesting pieces in order to maintain its readership. “Today you have to battle, you know, and claw your way to a reader. And we do that every week by just being ruthless about, you know, the reader,” she says.1 0 5 13. THE NEW NICHES According to a recent business column in The New Yorker, all great magazines started in recessions.1 0 6 A few editors and publishers have taken that news to heart, determined to ‘claw their way to the reader.’ Despite the recent demise of many magazines and the ominous economic situation, these magazine editors and publishers 1 0 3 Tina Brown, interview by Charlie Rose, 13 January 1998. 1 0 4 Ibid. 1 0 5 Ibid. 1 0 6 “Urban Tactic; Have Pen, Will Grovel,” New York Times, 3 February 2002. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 29 have spotted an empty niche and boldly launched (or re-launched) new magazines to fill them. In April 2002, Bust magazine, which was founded in 1993 by two secretaries and a graphic designer for women ‘“with something to get off their chests,’” re launched after the Internet provider that had bought the magazine went out of business citing financial difficulties.1 0 7 Undeterred, the magazine’s founders bought the rights back to produce the feminist magazine that would reflect the views of younger feminists and “ ‘also serve as an antidote to all the mainstream women’s media.’”1 0 8 Newly launched Grace magazine is also trying to fill a gap in the women’s magazine market. Grace is aimed at fuller figured women, who represent a huge market, according to its editor, Ceslie Armstrong, who wants to “reinvent the way the fashion industry perceives the plus-size market.”1 0 9 Grace takes advantage of the growing demand for fashion suited to larger women, and will replace a now defunct magazine titled Mode, also edited by Armstrong, which was aimed at a similar audience but folded last year because the publisher wanted to focus on trade magazines.1 1 0 Heeb magazine is one more example of writers and editors determined to reach an audience with a unique voice. The quarterly nonprofit is aimed at young Jewish readers and presents hip observations, satiric pieces as well as serious political pieces 1 0 7 “Bust Magazine Refuses to Go, Well, Bust,” Los Angeles Times, 1 April 2002 1 0 8 Ibid. 1 0 9 “Eyes On the Size,” Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2002. 1 1 0 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 0 about Jews.1 1 1 fleet's success will no doubt depend on its ability to speak in a compelling way to the very small niche to which it is aimed. 14. IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME The emergence of new magazines in an era littered with the carcasses of ambitious glossies, gives hope to aspiring writers, editors and publishers that even in the post-9/11, celebrity-obsessed world there is still room to create an intelligent magazine that speaks to its audience and still attracts advertisers. Certainly, the writers are available. Since Sept. 11 and the dusk of cyber-journalism, freelance writers have found themselves increasingly unemployed.1 1 2 “It is a slump that some in the industry see as a kind of media-Darwinism,” reports the New York Times, “a deep freeze that will kill off some freelancers but leave others with more room to survive.”1 1 3 At Westways, a magazine dedicated to the history of the Southwest, Ring found that all she had to do was ask, and writers of respectable caliber would volunteer their pieces, “non-fiction, personal stories, or some vivid pictures that intrigued them that they could write about.”1 1 4 She notes, “At the beginning you have to assign stories that you want covered. After the magazine gets its momentum, the manuscripts keep pouring in, because everybody wants to write for you.1 1 3 She continues: 1 1 1 “Regarding Media; Reaching Out, With Cheek, to Young Jewish Readers,” Los Angeles Times, 17 January 2002. 1 1 2 “Urban Tactic; Have Pen, Will Grovel,” New York Times, 3 February 2002. 1 1 3 Ibid. 1 1 4 Frances Ring, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 November 2002. 1 1 5 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 31 Every writer wants to be published. And since they were in the company of other good writers, and they lived [in the Southwest]... I couldn’t pay them very much, but then there weren’t a lot of magazines out there that catered to that specialized area. And the quality of the presentation was good.1 1 6 Writers, it seems, always manage to survive and fortunately for upstart magazines, are willing to sacrifice to find an appropriate showcase for their talent. 15. THE FUTURE As recent history has shown and the examples mentioned above attest, smaller niche magazines with a localized audience may have a greater chance of success than broad general interest magazines that fight for room on the newsstands. Though celebrity-based journalism still leads the pack with respect to readership and advertising, and most serious literary magazines rely on a long-established audience, there is some hope that a magazine aimed at the right group could be a success for readers and advertisers alike. “You have to know your audience, and be one step ahead of your audience,” advises Ring, “You have to fit in some kind of genre. If it’s culture, there’s a certain level of culture [you must focus on] : you reach too far out, then you have a very specialized magazine.”1 1 7 The author, with her heretofore silent colleague, Sorina Diaconescu, proposes an arts and culture magazine focused on Southern California. In addition to broader cultural meditations, the magazine would feature young, struggling artists in Southern California working in media ranging from the fine arts, to architecture, to film. We 1 1 6 Ibid. 1 1 7 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 believe that upcoming artists and other cultural figures in and around Los Angeles are largely ignored by the publications that presently serve the area, and a new magazine could easily fill the gap. Christina Dalton, associate features editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine and a self-described “culture vulture,” believes that L. A has a burgeoning art and culture scene that merits serious, yet hip, coverage.1 1 8 She says: I think this is a time when a lot people in the country are looking to see what’s going on in L.A.. We’re setting trends, we’re coming up with cutting edge designs and things in art... .NY is still very much a cultural center, but despite the stereotypes, I think LA is more exciting... And a magazine or paper that was staffed by people who are total culture vultures and were sophisticated nuanced writers could really be great.1 1 9 As evidence of L.A.’s emergence as a cultural center, Dalton points to the fact that recent articles in The New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure section have featured Los Angeles-based designers, artists and musicians. Dalton attributes the coverage to the importance of reaching the “coveted demographic” - the young, sophisticated, educated reader with an interest in cultural trends and developments, which necessarily include Los Angeles.1 2 0 Dalton sees Los Angeles as teeming with great stories, a result of the hybrid, polyglot culture that makes up the city, and are overlooked when L. A. is seen through the limited prism of the Westside.1 2 1 She says: 1 1 8 Christina Dalton, associate features editor, Los Angeles Times Magazine, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 23 May 2002, Los Angeles, tape recording. 1 1 9 Ibid. 1 2 0 Ibid. 1 2 1 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 33 A huge part of our readership and of the cultural life of our city, is all these folks on the east side who are going to inherit the city and build the culture here. There’s artists and architects and all this stuff going on [that needs to be covered and isn’t.] 1 2 2 She adds: I think people are a little segregated... I like magazines that don’t discriminate between covering something on the Westside versus covering something on the Eastside. The only standard should be, is it fascinating or neat?1 2 3 The proposed magazine would give voice to the underrepresented cultural perspectives Dalton mentions and incorporate the “is it fascinating or neat?” standard into its editorial philosophy. The ideal audience would include both men and women within a wide age range and income, who interested in art and culture. Clearly, advertising would be difficult if the magazine audience was spread out too widely. (The most successful local magazines remain local, attracting advertisers who are assured that their readers will recognize and remember their names.) To that end, the editors would seek out advertisers who see the benefits of addressing the increasingly mobile Southern California reader who is sophisticated and curious about the emerging culture that surrounds him or her. Finally, the author and her partner aspire to create a magazine that forms a community where one may not have previously existed. To that end, we take to heart the following statement from Los Angeles magazine founder Geoff Miller: “Every magazine has a unique DNA - its connection 1 2 2 ibid. 1 2 3 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 4 with its chosen readership. You don’t choose a magazine. A magazine chooses you.”1 2 4 #### 1 2 4 Geoff Miller, “L.A. Story,” Los Angeles Magazine, December 2000, 130. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 35 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1) Andersen, Kurt. “Only Gossip,” New York Times Magazine, 3 March 2002. 2) “Au Revoir to an Icon,” Los Angeles Times, 4 October 2001. 3) Brown, Tina, “Tina Brown Describes Roles of Editor, Diana, PM Blair,” interview by Charlie Rose (The Charlie Rose Show, PBS) 13 January 1998. 4) Brown, Tina, “Tina Brown Blames Recession, 9/11 for Demise of Talk,” interview by Charlie Rose (The Charlie Rose Show, PBS) 24 January 2002. 5) “Bust Magazine Refuses to Go, Well, Bust,” Los Angeles Times, 1 April 2002. 6) Christie, Tom, articles editor, L.A. Weekly, interview by Sorina Diaconescu, 22 May 2002, Los Angeles. Tape recording. 7) Dalton, Christina, associate features editor, Los Angeles Times Magazine, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 23 May 2002, Los Angeles. Tape recording. 8) “Eyes On the Size,” Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2002. 9) John, Heather, senior style editor, Los Angeles Times Magazine, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 5 June 2002, Los Angeles. 10) “Lifelines Cut, Talk Magazine Goes Silent,” New York Times, 19 January 2002. 11) Miller, Geoff. “L.A. Story,” Los Angeles Magazine, December 2000,130. 12) Rachlis, Kit, editor-in-chief, Los Angeles Magazine, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 March 2002, Los Angeles. Tape recording. 13) Randall, Stephen, executive editor, Playboy, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 19 October 2001, Los Angeles. Tape recording. 14) “Regarding Media; Magazine Moguls Meet Amid Doom and Gloom,” Los Angeles Times, 26 October 2001. 15) “Regarding Media; Reaching Out, With Cheek, to Young Jewish Readers,” Los Angeles Times, 17 January 2002. 16) Ring, Frances, former associate editor, Westways, interview by Mahshid Hariri with Sorina Diaconescu, 5 November 2002, Los Angeles. Tape Recording. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 36 17) Smith, Martin, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times Magazine, interview by Mahshid Hariri, 23 May 2002, Los Angeles. Tape recording. 18) “Talk to Utter Its Final Issue,” Los Angeles Times, 19 January 2002. 19) “Urban Tactic; Have Pen, Will Grovel,” New York Times, 3 February 2002. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Hariri, Mahshid M. (author)

Core Title A prolegomenon to a Los Angeles arts and culture magazine

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

School Graduate School

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Print Journalism

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag journalism,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Advisor [illegible] (committee chair), [illegible] (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-302740

Unique identifier UC11337141

Identifier 1414901.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-302740 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 1414901.pdf

Dmrecord 302740

Document Type Thesis

Rights Hariri, Mahshid M.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA