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A prospectus for a Los Angeles arts and culture magazine from the graduate school

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Content A PROSPECTUS FOR A LOS ANGELES ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE
FROM THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
by
Sorina Diaconescu
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
Copyright 2002 Sorina Diaconescu
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UMI Number: 1414875
UMI
UMI Microform 1414875
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.
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
The Graduate School
University Park
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90089-1695
This thesis, w ritten b y
U nder th e direction o f A & .J E L Thesis
C om m ittee, and approved b y a ll its members,
has been p resen ted to and accepted b y The
Graduate School, in p a rtia l fulfillm ent o f
requirem ents fo r th e degree o f
fA AST E fcx o p
Dean o f Graduate Studies
D ate A ugust 6 , 2002
THESISi COMMITTEE
itairperson
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ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract........................................................................................................................ iii
I. Introduction: An Idea Is B om ...................................... 1
II. Content: What Goes Into It?...................................................................................2
1) Editorial Philosophy................................................................................................ 3
2) Advertising............................................................................................................... 7
3) Public Relations Pressures......................................................................................9
4) A Magazine’s Mission: To Lead Or To Follow?.................................................10
5) Magazine Writ: Just Another Product To Peddle?.............................................. 13
III. Content: What Sells?............................................................................................15
IV. Is A Bad Economy Good For New Magazines?................................................18
V. Los Angeles Magazines: Beyond Myth And Cliche..........................................21
VI. Notes From A Good Editor.................................................................................26
VII. Magazine Art And Design: Quick Overview................................................. 27
Addendum/Start-Up Of A Los Angeles Magazine: The Battle Plan.......................29
1) Editorial Philosophy.............................................................................................. 29
2) Competitive Set......................................................................................................30
3) Target Audience.....................................................................................................30
4) Circulation And Distribution.................................................................................31
5) Art Direction And Writing....................................................................................31
Bibliography............................................................................................................... 32
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ABSTRACT
The present project concerns itself with the creation of a new publication
based in Los Angeles, namely, a general interest quarterly magazine that will cover
arts and culture through the prism of emerging talents—artists on the cusp, who have
yet to achieve the critical mass that will lead to their immersion and absorption into
the mainstream, but nevertheless produce fresh, vital work in the cultural space from
San Diego to Santa Barbara.
In preparation for the launch of the magazine, the author has researched local
and national magazine publishing, and conducted interviews with editors who have
over the years shaped both existent and defunct magazines based in Los Angeles. The
results are outlined in the prospectus, which offers a look at the current situation of
Los Angeles-based general interest magazines, as it simultaneously makes a
persuasive case for the new publication.
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I. INTRODUCTION: AN IDEA IS BORN
1
Regardless of how eclectic or narrow one’s tastes or interests, there exists, it
seems, a periodical designed to appeal to them. From Xeroxed, hand-bound fanzines
circulated among lovers of animated shows, to upscale style bibles extolling the
virtues of sunless tans for the benefit of the jet set, to pro-environment pamphlets
designed to invoke consumer’s guilt — a reader has only to decide what suits him best
among the numbing array of publications that aim to please, comfort or challenge
him.
Then: why a new magazine? Part of the answer is that sometimes, a new
magazine cannot be helped: it is a would-be editor’s dream. As in any other creative
endeavor, a desire to communicate, to share a specific vision of the world with others,
sustains the perception of a need for the end product. In that sense, a new magazine is
always needed. That much is clear.
Less clear is though what exactly takes for a new general-interest, quality
publication to succeed in today’s perilous economic environment, to stay afloat in the
turbulent waters of media-conglomeration while connecting with an audience.
With the present paper, the author set out to find some answers to these questions,
and specifically understand what it takes for a new magazine to succeed in Los
Angeles.
To that end, the author interviewed editors who have over the years shaped both
existent and defunct magazines based in Los Angeles, conducted research and
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brainstormed in equal measure. The results are outlined below, in what the author
hopes is a persuasive case for a new L.A.-based publication.
The modus operandi of the new magazine will be addressed in an addenda to the
paper.
II. CONTENT: WHAT GOES INTO IT?
At its most accomplished, a general interest magazine is as personable as a book
and as informative as a newspaper, a sort of hybrid that offers the reader the pleasures
of both worlds. Readers do, of course, read magazines to find out about the world,
but also like to keep them around because they are a companion in ways a newspaper
can never be.
A magazine requires more commitment on the part of the reader, but yields in
turn more substantial rewards: there are longer pieces that a reader can cozy up to,
absorb, revisit. There are meatier aesthetic pleasures, from colorful art covers to
bigger photographs to glossy paper that feels sensual and pleasant to the touch (and
does not leave inks stains on one’s fingers). In every new issue, a magazine generally
holds more surprises in store for its readers than a newspaper. But for the most part,
the successful, iconic magazines are reassuringly constant in tone, looks and content.
Much like a real person, a magazine has an identity, and a personality. And indeed
like real people, our friends and neighbors who are transformed by the passage of
time but also endure in many ways unchanged, “successful magazines that have a
strong identity,” explains Steve Randall, executive editor for Playboy magazine,
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“even though they’ve evolved and changed over the years, to a certain extent have
their own personalities.”1
That personality, the content of magazines depends upon editorial philosophy,
advertising, responsiveness (to competition, culture, and what goes on in the world),
public relations pressures, and the extent to which a publication chooses to follow,
rather than lead, in matters of taste, in terms of beliefs and convictions. Each of these
is addressed below.
1) EDITORIAL PHILOSOPHY
How much of the magazine that you hold in your hands is the result of the will
and design of its editors?
And how do they go about rendering a publication more like a real person, one
that a selective group of readers can regard as their best new friend? The answers, of
course, depend on the magazine in question. But this much is clear: before there is
anything that a reader can hold in his hands, a lot of thinking is done on the part of
editors responsible for the direction and destiny of magazines.
First, there is a series of simple questions that need answers: What kind of people
do we want to Talk to? What do we want to tell them? With most general interest
magazines, these answers are clear-cut, even as they differ from publication to
publication.
1 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on October 19, 2001.
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A publication like Playboy, for example, is factually aimed at young men who
want to have “a little bit of seriousness melded in with the fun,” explains Executive
Editor Steve Randall. It also has an aspirational quality, which magazines that target
either gender tend to have.
But the real alchemy of the magazine, what gave it its very distinct personality,
consists in the strategy - once quite innovative - in which the publication bonded
with its audience. Fifty years ago, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner invented “the high-
low act” as an editorial philosophy, which was basically a recipe for merging into one
package things that had previously been confined to opposite sides of the media
spectrum. Thus party jokes and pictures of nude women for the first time rubbed
shoulders with respectable fiction and serious journalism.
“It sounds very simple,” says Randall, who notes that in the half a century that has
passed since Playboy magazine first hit the newsstands, “the high-low act” has been
adopted by scores of imitators, most recently by the wildly successful cable network
HBO - “The Playboy of the new millennium,”2 as Randall calls it.
“They have real sex, they have all these tacky erotic thrillers, and they also have
‘Band of Brothers’ and the good stuff - and they do it all in one thing, and it all
makes sense. If you see all these things on HBO, it has a personality and it makes
sense. Playboy in a very real sense was the forerunner.”
2 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on October 19, 2001.
3 Ibid.
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Indeed, in any other magazine, a Q & A with Saul Bellow would seem out of
place following a trashy pictorial depicting models prancing about in various states of
undress, but in Playboy magazine it makes perfect sense.
Striking the perfect balance between smut and intellectual stimulation is however
equal parts black art and exact science. The space dedicated to cars and gadgets, to
pictorials, or to serious journalism, may (and does) vary with each issue, but the
personality of the magazine needs to shine through every time, in one cohesive
package. “If we varied it greatly,” says Randall, “I think readers would notice right
away and probably not be happy.”
In terms of an editorial philosophy, the handful of general-interest periodicals
based in Los Angeles have over the years displayed a concern with bringing the
eclectic into focus, with filtering the dynamic, chaotic city into a coherent form of
narrative. Here is how, for example, former Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles, Geoff
Miller, explains the impulse behind the publication he co-founded in 1961: “ Los
Angeles [magazine] was to be a magazine celebrating the unruly young city in all its
contrary glory. 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.”4 Kit Rachlis, the
magazine’s current editor-in-chief, picked up the thread two and a half years ago,
when he came to the helm of what he set out to shape into “a sophisticated glossy,
.. .a sieve to sort out Los Angeles for our readers.”5
4 “L.A. Story,” Los Angeles Magazine, December 2000
5 Kit Rachlis, editor-in-chief, Los Angeles magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on March 5, 2002.
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Rachlis emphasizes that endowing the magazine with a strong, distinct personality
does not necessarily imply that the publication will be rigid or formulaic. “Our
judgment is that (Los Angeles magazine is not) the only view of Los Angeles,” he
explains. “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
At other end of the city and the opposite end of the spectrum, Martin Smith,
senior features editor at the Los Angeles Times magazine, spoke of the mandate his
publication has issued to itself to tackle stories that take a step back from the news
and offer the reader a broader perspective.
“Generally, I think we are the repository for great narrative writing,”7 says Smith
of the general interest magazine that the Los Angeles Times puts out with its Sunday
edition of the paper. The editorial philosophy at work here is to connect with the
reader that reads and digests the paper on a daily basis, but still wants a more in-
depth, personalized perspective on timely issues.
A profile, for example, becomes in the magazine only the starting point for
“something that tells a bigger story.”8
6 Kit Rachlis, editor-in-chief, Los Angeles magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on March 5, 2002.
7 Martin Smith, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine, interviewed by Mahshid
Hariri on May 23, 2002.
8 Martin Smith, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine, interviewed by Mahshid
Hariri on May 23, 2002.
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Says Smith, “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.”9
2) ADVERTISING
Advertising revenues arguably shape the destiny of a magazine as much as the
editorial philosophy behind it. That is because general-interest publications usually
generate the bulk of their revenue from selling advertising space in their pages.
(There are, of course, exceptions that will be addressed below.)
As a result, “when you put out a magazine, the number of pages of advertising
determines the number of (editorial) pages,” says Frances Ring, former associate
editor of the L.A.-based Westways magazine. Oftentimes advertisers use this kind of
clout to shape the editorial content of publications so it facilitates an easier reach of
their target demographic.
The magazine industry standard for the ration between advertisements and
editorial content is 60:40, and among local general-interest magazines, it hovers
around that mark, even as it differs from publication to publication: it is 55:45 at Los
Angeles magazine, for example, and 70:30 at L.A. Weekly.
Some general-interest publications have managed to reduce, to a certain
extent, the dependence of editorial content on advertising. Playboy magazine, which
rakes in most of its income from subscriptions and newsstand sales, has a 30:70
advertisement to editorial ration - but most magazines are unable to make much
profit based on their circulation alone.
9 Martin Smith, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine, interviewed by Mahshid
Hariri on May 23, 2002.
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When a publication finds itself in a better position to keep the push and pull of
advertisers in check, that translates into greater freedom to exercise its editorial
philosophy. “My decisions are based much more on fitting with the personality of the
magazine, than any type of demographics or formulas,”1 0 explains Playboy editor
Stephen Randall. “Yes, it has to appeal to young men; yes, it has to appeal to... what
they are interested in. (But) I don’t know of any magazine that is edited by the same
type of formula that is used to sell advertising. It’s much more creative -
hopefully,”1 1 he adds.
Los Angeles Times magazine editor Martin Smith calls his publication’s
12
ability to stave off advertising pressures “journalistic shangri-la.” The weekly is
subsidized by the Los Angeles Times, and thus manages to avoid pressures from
advertisers to any particular kind of stories with target-audience appeal.
Smith, who prior to the Times magazine edited a “hyper-local” Orange County
monthly which relied heavily on local advertisers and courted their favors by
covering advertiser-friendly topics - a “best spa list” would be featured with hopes of
securing advertising dollars from local spas, is skeptical about the success potential
for a “pure editorial” magazine like his current publication. If not for the Los Angeles
Times underwriting it, he knows it would most probably go under. “.. .It’s not smart
1 0 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on October 19, 2001.
1 1 Ibid.
1 2 Martin Smith, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine, interviewed by Mahshid
Hariri on May 23, 2002.
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magazine economics,” says Smith, “it’s dumb magazine economics, but it’s great
i -a
journalism - and that’s what appeals to me about it.”
3) PUBLIC RELATIONS PRESSURES
The increasingly prevalent trend of media conglomeration has resulted in a
much closer relationship between the disciplines of public relations and journalism -
two concepts that theoretically clash. Many general interest magazines have become
showcases for various events, stars and public figures seeking a free a megaphone to
reach the public. In the most high-profile case of melding journalism and public
relations in recent memory, the now-defunct Talk magazine, co-owned by Disney
Corporation’s Miramax Division, was repeatedly accused of boosting Miramax and
Disney movie projects.
In the past, even as publications danced to the tune of public relations, they
attempted to cloak the practice in the guise of journalism. “Forty and 80 years ago,
the P.R. machinery was designed to operate secretly, invisibly, in the background,”1 4
explains writer and media analyst Kurt Anderson. “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...” “Yet,” concludes Anderson, “this new
transparency and the resulting pandemic of savvy doesn’t seem to make the publicity
machine any less effective.”
1 3 Martin Smith, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine, interviewed by Mahshid
Hariri on May 23, 2002.
1 4 “Only Gossip,” New York Times magazine, March 3, 2002
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4) A MAGAZINE’S MISSION: TO LEAD OR TO FOLLOW?
The issue of how much a publication needs to re-shape itself to keep up with
competitors and remain true not only to its editorial philosophy, but also to the spirit
of the times, has been a hotly debated topic among editors. There is a progressive
fraction that argues that responding to trends is not only inevitable but necessary.
Even a venerable media enterprise such as Playboy magazine, once a trend-setter
itself, had to update its design, trim articles and make room for more interactive
features to keep up with competitive pressures from youthful, energetic competitors
like Maxim. “The magazine has gone through many different phases, since I’ve been
here, all of which were responsive issues,”1 5 explains Stephen Randall. “It would be
irresponsible not be aware of competition, or what’s going on in the world.”1 6
Progressive editors like Randall argue that a publication will remain relevant
to its readers only as long as it fine-tunes its tone and content to keep up with the
Zeitgeist. He offers the example of the Monica Lewinsky political scandal, which all
of a sudden rendered previously taboo topics perfectly acceptable conversation topics
and forced the media to become more explicit in addressing them. Prior to the
scandal, Randall says, ’’oral sex (was not) 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.”
1 5 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on October 19, 2001.
1 6 Ibid.
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If such paradigm shifts occur in culture, Randall maintains that it is the job of
pop culture outposts like television and magazines to react accordingly. “The
magazines that don’t change will be bordering on irrelevant to [the reader],”
concludes Randall.
But equally important to the destiny of a publication, argue divergent editors,
is the ability to ride out changes and remain very much true to core editorial beliefs.
The New Yorker magazine, which for decades marched to its own drummer and thus
established an unmitigated bond of trust with its readers, is most often quoted as an
example. When a new editorial team set out to modernize this venerable outpost in
the 1990’s, circulation and sales may have increased, but the publication lost part of
its soul, some argue.
In its prime, the literary/general interest magazine occupied a unique position
in the hearts and minds of its readers, says Renata Adler, who spent decades as a staff
writer at the old-school New Yorker. “Its talent, authority, civility, and charm, even
good-will, were unmistakable. Once any of those elements was compromised, the
magazine might continue to publish valuable work, but it was just another magazine.
The essence of the enterprise,” argues Adler, “was thrown away.”1 7
The readers lured by the discounted subscriptions to the “new and improved”
New Yorkerwere primarily trend chasers, and so were off to latch onto the next hot
new magazine as soon as they subscriptions expired, explains Adler in a recent
volume she wrote on the history of the New Yorker. She concludes that the strength
1 7 Renata Adler, Gone: The Last Days of the New Yorker(S '\mon & Schuster, New York,
1999), p. 57
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of particular publications consists of their impermeability to change, and any forced
adaptation to trends might simply ruin them.
“The magazine, for all its hard-won gossip-worthiness and buzz, was no
longer what it had always , inadvertently and against every avowed intention, been -
not just a last line of resistance for certain forms and standards but, of all things,
In.”1 8
Besides, meandering in terms of editorial philosophy has just recently proven
lethal to a couple of publications that were forced to close shop within the last year.
Talk magazine, the high-profile general interest glossy started by editor celebre Tina
Brown, was in a constant state of flux for almost its entire two-year history.
Editorially, “rather than swiftly find a consistent voice or a readily identifiable design,
Talk magazine... experimented with an ever-changing parade of editors and
designers.”1 9
The lesson to be learned is that the shifts in a magazine’s personality, if any,
need to be subtle, and the core identity of the publication needs to endure. The
recently defunct Mademoiselle magazine, once a beacon of quality amid general
interest magazines, had fallen on hard times long before its demise. Time and again, it
attempted to spring back to life by “re-inventing” its format, content, even cover
design with every issue.
1 8 Renata Adler, Gone: The Last Days of the New YorketiSimon & Schuster, New York,
1999), p. 57
1 9 “Lifelines Cut, Talk magazine Goes Silent,” New York Times, January 19, 2002
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But, as a magazine analyst was quoted saying in a Los Angeles Times piece
about Mademoiselle's fall from grace, “’You can only have so many face lifts before
it starts eating into the core personality [of the magazines].’”2 0
5) MAGAZINE WRIT: JUST ANOTHER PRODUCT TO PEDDLE?
Some editors argue that a successful magazine should position itself similarly
to a detergent brand that advertises on TV: it should identify a specific audience,
discover its wants and needs, and then cater to them accordingly. It’s the “Give-them-
what-they-want” philosophy, and is quite obviously at work in certain recent
publications, like Gear, or InStyle Magazine.
Bob Guccione, editor and eublisher of Gear magazine and founder of the
successful Spin magazine, best illustrated this approach to running a magazine: “My
edict to all my staff, whether it's business or editorial, is - ‘We work for the reader.’
We don't work for our peers. We don't work for advertisers. We're like a public
company, [and] they're the stockholders. We're the board of directors. When they
0 1
lose interest in us, we're fired.”
This kind of mentality has become widely prevalent in other news
environments - most notably broadcast news, where the end product is increasingly
tailored, nipped and tucked to the satisfaction of the consumer.
2 0 “Au Revoir to an Icon,” Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2001
2 1 Bob Guccione Jr., editor and publisher, Gear magazine, interviewed on The Charlie Rose
Show, PBS, April 8, 1998
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But there are again the magazines that have skirted the populist route and
instead have put forth values and beliefs organic to their editorial core. And
sometimes, just sometimes, an audience may be inspired to come along for the ride.
“You have to know your audience, [but] be one step ahead of your audience,”
is how former Westways magazine editor Frances Ring puts it. Of course, this can
lead to a disconnect between the reading public and the publication. A magazine like
the New Yorker was, especially in its old days, notorious for refusing to succumb to
any sorts of populist impulses. Even today, cartoons that New Yorker editors find
hellishly clever, notoriously leave legions of the magazine’s readers scratching their
heads.
“In editorial we’re trying not to think too much about [the magazine’s
demographics], we’re not catering to anybody,”2 2 says Tom Christie, article editor at
LA. Weekly, one of Los Angeles’s alternative weekly magazines. Christie explains
that while L.A. Weekly hopes to interest the “mid-40’s, intelligent movie-going,
music-listening, book-reading person, as well as the mid 20’s reader, it’s not always
easy to talk to them and also have quality in the magazine.”
Readers can sniff when a publication courts their favor a little too arduously,
and maybe not surprisingly, react in dismay. A magazine, after all, is like a
companion, and most people tire easily of a sycophantic friend who approves of all
their thoughts and ideas but never contributes any of his own.
2 2 Tom Christie, articles editor, LA. Weekly, interviewed by author on May 22, 2002.
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III. CONTENT: WHAT SELLS?
If one looks at what has been proven to have a long-lasting appeal among
readers of periodicals, a literate, general interest magazine does not seem like the
most likely candidate. In today’s media environment, gossip and celebrity coverage
are what seems to bring home the bacon, at the expense of other, perhaps more
substantial, topics. The most successful publication to have been launched in 70 years
is Time Inc.’s People magazine, a weekly that “grew out of Time magazine’s People
page.”2 3
Since 1974, People has been bombarding its audience with voyeuristic,
obsessive details about the lives of celebrities and those of people thrust to the
forefront of public consciousness for the proverbial 15 minutes: lottery winners, freak
accident victims, criminals and the like. People has spawned itself an offspring,
InStyle magazine, dedicated exclusively to the quirks and lifestyles of the rich and
famous: since its inception in the mid-90’s, it has quickly climbed to the top of
successful magazine lists.
In a self-fulfilling cycle, such publications feed off of, and in turn generate
more, celebrity coverage. As one media analyst noted recently, in today’s celebrity-
obsessed milieu, “even infamy counts as fame.”2 4 Two of the other more successful
publications of the past couple of decades are both brainchildren of media celebrities:
Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine (with a cover that sports Winfrey’s portrait in every
2 3 “Only Gossip,” New York Times magazine, March 3, 2002
2 4 Ibid.
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issue) and Martha Steward Living, built on the bankable TV personality and home
improvement doyenne Martha Stewart.2 5
Can a new, general interest magazine stay afloat in this kind of environment?
It is clearly that today’s pure literary magazines survive mainly thanks to their built-in
readership. “Because we’re a celebrity-oriented culture... everything is style,
everything is glamour,” notes former Westways magazine editor Frances Ring. She
points out that there remain a few literary magazines still afloat to this day, like The
Nation magazine, or Harper’ s magazine, 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
O ft
readership that enables them to keep going.”
As the most recent casualty, media analysts often cite Talk , the high-profile
start-up publication which bit the dust after only two years, despite the fact that it was
anchored in the deep pockets of both Disney and Hearst corporations and had with
time shown potential to become profitable. The future of Talk was deemed dubious
by its publishers because it “sought a general interest audience at a time when
magazines, faced with declining readership, had begun steering toward the safe
harbor of niche audiences.”2 7
Despite such bad omens, it doesn’t mean that the very concept of a general
interest magazine that can captivate a large audience is dead. Sometimes it takes only
one publication to start a revolution: the past offers examples of magazines that have,
2 5 “Only Gossip,” New York Times magazine, March 3, 2002
2 6 Frances Ring, former associate editor, Westways magazine, interviewed by author with
Mahshid Hariri, November 5, 2002.
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at certain moments in time, embodied the Zeitgeist and, prescient in terms of
upcoming cultural/social trends, connected with an audience willing to follow.
The example of Playboy magazine comes to mind: back in the 1960’s, the
publication “had a different place in the culture, a unique place... - and I don’t think
[any magazine] has that place in the culture anymore,” says Playboy editor Stephen
Randall. But it does not mean it won’t happen again. Recently, such cultural
phenomena have been mostly confined to the world of television: shows like “Who
Wants to be a Millionaire,” or the cable network MTV, when it first got on air.
“There are very few things that when they come on, they come on like a
supernova,”2 9 says Randall.
And nobody’s to say the next big thing cannot be a magazine, one that will
hold audience and nation in thrall like in Playboy did in the good old days.
IV. IS A BAD ECONOMY GOOD FOR NEW MAGAZINES?
A crucial ingredient to a magazine’s success is its timing. And with the
economy teetering on the brink of recession for the past couple of years, many
general interest magazines — and not just the start-ups like Talk magazine — have had
a rotten time at it.
2 7 “Lifelines Cut, Talk magazine Goes Silent,” New York Times, January 19, 2002
2 8 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on October 19, 2001.
2 9 Ibid.
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As advertising revenues dried up in the latter part of the 90’s and into the
naughts, publications like George, Mademoiselle, Working Woman, Lingua Franca,
Brill’s Content, The Industry Standard and Talk magazine were forced to close down.
Said Talk editor Tina Brown, at the time of her magazine’s demise this January:
“Unfortunately, we simply had to be realistic about the fact that 2001 and 2002 to
date represent the worst period in memory for general interest magazines.”3 0
If post-September 11th, 2001, the magazine publishing industry in general has been
hurting, the celebrity-driven publications seem to continue at full tilt. “The celebrity
industry... was supposed to the among the collateral damage of Sept. 11.,” muses
media analyst Kurt Anderson. “Sure, Talk magazine died, and for a few weeks last
fall, the entertainment-gossip TV shows were doing segments about firemen instead
of Charlize Theron and Enrique Iglesias. But just wait until the next It Girl messes up,
or the next politician gets caught in a sex scandal.. .”3 1
The point is that the economic shock has been absorbed by a certain segment
of the magazine publishing industry with an aplomb that gives hope to those who
wish to see the more serious general interest publications make a spirited comeback.
The signs are already there, and as a matter of fact, some enterprising editor
types choose to view the latest dearth of support for general interest magazines as a
blessing in disguise. There are more opportunities to make an impression, they argue,
and media analysts tend to agree. To launch a new magazine in a bad time is
3 0 “Lifelines Cut, Talk magazine Goes Silent,” New York Times, January 19, 2002
3 1 “Only Gossip,” New York Times magazine, March 3, 2002
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19
'^ '7
sometimes good, “because there’s less things out there going on,” the editor-in-chief
of Media Industry Newsletter was quoted saying in a recent Los Angeles Times
article.
Besides the oft-mentioned assertion that “all the great magazines have started
in recessions,”3 3 there are clues that post-September 11th media consumers crave
something more substantial than mindless celeb coverage. And those savvy enough to
detect opportunity where others see doom and gloom, are intent on capitalizing on it.
A couple of months ago, Bust magazine, a neo-feminist publication that had
folded last year, has been re-launched as a quarterly by its original co-founders.
Commenting on their efforts, a magazine analyst predicted in a recent Los Angeles
Times article that Bust has a good chance to survive - “if it stays small and targeted.
If they have expansion plans to be all over the country, that’s not going to work.”3 4
Other hopeful additions to the magazine universe that have sprung up in the
unfriendly economic environment of the past 12 months include Heeb magazine, a
publication that views itself as a forum for hip, cosmopolitan Jewish youth; and the
just-launched Grace magazine, which targets plus-size women. And while all of the
publications mentioned here seemingly target a rather focused reader segment, their
3 2 “Bust Magazine Refuses to Go, Well, Bust,” Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2002
3 3 “Urban Tactic; Have Pen, Will Grovel,” New York Times, February 3, 2002
3 4 “Bust Magazine Refuses to Go, Well, Bust,” Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2002
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20
founders and editors say that their editorial ambitions extend beyond being a niche
publication.3 5
Grace Magazine, for example, says it want to “take more of a lifestyle
approach, to offer more than fashion and beauty.”
Another unexpected benefit for those willing to take a gamble on launching a
new publication is the current glut of assignment-hungry free-lance writers who are
more than willing to contribute their names and talents to a new media outfit.
As many publications — especially online — closed down, and the remaining ones
have been compelled to run shorter stories and rely more heavily on staffers, an
immense pool of talent has been released back into the market. While it can
undoubtedly be viewed as a dark ages for free-lancers, the slump is teeming with
opportunities for a new publication willing to offer itself as a writing platform.
There are also voices in the magazine industry claiming that “the deep freeze
that will kill off some free-lancers... [will also] leave others with more room to
thrive;”3 7 - and those left standing will be only the very best.
V. LOS ANGELES MAGAZINES: BEYOND MYTH AND CLICHE
Any serious consideration about a start-up Los Angeles magazine must begin
with a simple fact: the history of Los Angeles-based magazine publishing is littered
3 5 “Regarding Media; Reaching Out, With Cheek, to Young Jewish Readers,” Los Angeles
Times, January 17, 2002
3 6 “Eyes On the Size,” Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2002
3 7 “Urban Tactic; Have Pen, Will Grovel,” New York Times, February 3, 2002
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21
with the carcasses of general interest publications that tried, for better or worse, to
hold a mirror up to the city of immigrants, freeways and perpetual sunshine. L.A.’s
most recent ghosts include New West magazine (which morphed into California
magazine before it died out altogether), LA. Reader, Angelook, L.A. Style, and Buzz
magazine.
While some of these publications managed to inspire their readers and even
gained a spot in local lore, for the most part, Los Angeles has proven to be a
treacherous terrain for any magazine with above-average ambitions.
“There [is] this kind of irony, that L.A. is not worthy of its own magazine,”
says Kit Rachlis, editor-in-chief of Los Angeles magazine, L.A.’s own “It” glossy at
the moment. “There’s that famous quote by David Geffen, who was given a private
tour of the Getty a couple of weeks before it opened, and turned to someone and said,
‘This is too good for L.A.!”’3 8
Why has Los Angeles been seemingly incapable of sustaining for the long
haul more publications that reflect its wildly eclectic and exciting personality, its
sensibility, of equal parts sun-drenched and noir, its fascinating history that has
largely been swept aside as “yesterday”? Like California itself, Los Angeles seems
almost too big and too diverse to embrace into one single magazine.
One of the main reasons local editors quote as responsible for the failure of
former Los Angeles magazines is that they were mostly created by outsiders. Says
Geoff Miller, a co-founder and former editor-in-chief of Los Angeles magazine: “All
3 8 Kit Rachlis, editor-in-chief, Los Angeles magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on March 5, 2002.
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22
kinds of people had made faltering attempts at launching a magazine for Los Angeles
over the years, most of them slavishly mimicking the New Yorker- which was really a
on
literary magazine.”
A case in point is Buzz magazine, which through the 90’s fashioned itself a
local New Yorker, and, according to local editors, viewed Los Angeles mostly
through a Westside lens. (It folded in 1998.) The former editorial team at Los Angeles
magazine, says current Editor-in-Chief Rachlis, “to a large degree, bought in to all of
New York’s cliches about Los Angeles: fashion, service, low grade journalism.”4 0
Another cliche thought by outsiders to be the very essence of L.A.-based
publishing is, of course, slavish coverage of the local entertainment industry.
“Outsiders and the media tend to treat Los Angeles as very much.. .a kind of freak
show, and simply (reduce it to) just a function of the entertainment industry,”4 1 says
Rachlis.
Stephen Randall remembers his earlier years at Los Angeles magazine in the
1970’s, when for three or four years the publication all but banished celebrity-
inspired fluff pieces, ignored Hollywood as much as possible - and rose to heights of
success unsurpassed before, or thereafter. “We were putting out 500-page issues, and
we were doing extraordinarily well both in subscriptions and on the newsstand,” says
3 9 “L.A. Story,” Los Angeles magazine, December 2000
4 0 Kit Rachlis, editor-in-chief, Los Angeles magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on March 5, 2002.
4 1 Ibid.
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23
Randall. “My feeling is that the L.A. market is consistently misjudged by outsiders -
I see it happen with alarming regularity.”4 2
So much for the myth of Los Angeles being unable to swallow a literate
publication. While more high-brow magazines were actually cherished by L.A.
readers, some of them simply did not have the business savvy or public relations
skills of their competition.
LA. Reader, a more literate former rival of current alternative LA. Weekly, eventually
succumbed to the latter. “The Weekly became a hipper, edgier place, [and] the Reader
was a little more serious,” remembers L.A. Weekly editor Tom Christie, who has
worked for both. “The Weekly would have a big party every year, and it would
definitely be the better of the two parties, things like that: that’s what matters,”4 3
jokes Christie.
Of the defunct California magazine, started by New York transplant Clay
Felker, Kit Rachlis says, “It had great journalism but no business plan. Had
California magazine had a good business plan, L.A.’s city history would have been
different,” concludes the Los Angeles magazine editor, lauding to the fact that at its
best, a local magazine can mitigate the cultural and social chasms among residents of
the city.
Los Angeles remains a difficult town for a local magazine because “they’re
unnecessary,” says Tom Christie. “Everyone here still reads Vanity Fair, the New
4 2 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on October 19, 2001.
4 3 Tom Christie, articles editor, LA. Weekly, interviewed by author on May 22, 2002.
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24
Yorker, New York magazine. And with this being Hollywood, there are the trades...
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which they’re [also] reading: it just adds up to
too much competition.”4 4
The fact that Los Angeles readers also devour East Coast-based publications
makes it more difficult for a local magazine to break through the clutter. “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.: [Los Angeles residents] are 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 magazines are not already serving LA. And my
feeling is that celebrities are pretty well covered.”4 5 suggests Stephen Randall. That
means less celebrity stuff, because it is already being covered in so many other
publications.
Ideally, a magazine based in Los Angeles “should be local. That’s my
feeling,” says Los Angeles Times magazine editor Martin Smith. Rather than chase
national prominence, the local publications would do well to mine what is in their
own back yard. “We can tell national stories, but they have to be done through that
prism of Southern California,”4 6 concludes Smith.
After all, with Los Angeles a living, breathing prototype for the city of the
future, endowed with the cultural potential of hybrid demographic, there is more than
4 4 Tom Christie, articles editor, L.A. Weekly, interviewed by author on May 22, 2002.
4 5 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on October 19, 2001.
4 6 Martin Smith, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine, interviewed by Mahshid
Hariri on May 23, 2002.
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25
enough substance to nourish good magazine writing. “If we had the best coverage,
and the best people,... and the most beautiful design and that sort of stuff, we could
be [a successful magazine] without branching out that much farther from L.A.,” says
Christina Dalton, a features editor at the Los Angeles Times magazine.
She adds, “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. L.A. is “It” now, in the 21st century.”4 7
VI. NOTES FROM A GOOD EDITOR
What makes a great editor? For starters, some of the same things that make a
magazine great: an editor’s keen awareness of what goes on in the world coupled with
strong passionate opinions of their own; a sense for where the culture is at a given
moment in time and the capacity to ride ahead of the curve; and a love of the written
word helps, too — not to mention the authority to enforce deadlines.
When queried, some editors have suggested additional qualities. Mentioned time
and again was the importance of steering a publication not only towards commercial
and journalistic success, but towards becoming an ideal environment for writers. “If
you want writers to do their best work, treat [them] well, create a place for great
writers,” sums it up Kit Rachlis.
4 7 Christina Dalton, associate features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine, interviewed by
Mahshid Hariri on May 23, 2002
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26
Another thought that has come up is that an editor must have the courage to yield,
in terms of editorial content, in the directions suggested by writers, and trust them to
cover the things that they feel strongly about.
“I think you need to go with the passions of your writers, as much as you possibly
can,”4 8 says Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Talk
magazine among others.
With Talk Brown said that she sought to create a testing ground for new, up-and-
coming talent. Part of her strategy was to concoct a raw combo of news and
commentary, and promote “very unmediated writing.”4 9 “It’s very important that...
you keep on looking for the passion in the writer. Then the story's going to work
because... the man or woman is already in love [with a topic] and that brings
everything you need to the fore. So that's really the quest - to find the story that
makes the writer's eyes light up,”5 0 concludes Brown.
VII. MAGAZINE ART AND DESIGN: QUICK OVERVIEW
The look of a magazine is one of its most crucial assets. From the ever-so-
important cover, to the most minute details of font choice and paper quality, a
publication put together with a distinct eye and a bold, fresh approach to design can
hook readers even before thye plunge into the content.
4 8 Tina Brown, interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show, PBS, January 13, 1998
4 9 Tina Brown, interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show, PBS, January 24, 2002
5 0 Tina Brown, interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show, PBS, January 13, 1998
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27
While certain magazines aim to be little above advertising directories and
design their pages and covers accordingly, what comes as a revelation is the
importance that art direction plays, even in general interest magazines. “I’m not sure
what dictates what in terms of art department versus the editorial department,” says
Playboy editor Stephen Randall. “We have a very strong-willed art department and
often I refer to them as the tail that wags the dog.. .”5 1
Randall is referring, of course, to the design formula that it has always abided
by — the standard three pictorials and the distinct approach to cover art. But even as
consistency of design becomes a strong suit for a publication, there is a need for
periodic updates. Randall explains that his magazine has developed a livelier, more
energetic design partly in keeping with the more explicitly visual sensibilities of
current times, partly as a response to new, edgier competitors. The goal is to make the
52
publication “younger and hipper and more energetic and a little bit less staid,” he
says, but at the same time preserve some of the old art designs, which have exercised
a legendary pull on readers.
In order to endow a publication with a particular look and feel, no detail is too
small. When re-vamping the glossy he heads, editor Kit Rachlis says that he focused
on the subtle things that few readers consciously take in, but which can overall very
much communicate the overall philosophy of the magazine. “I wanted [Los Angeles
5 1 Stephen Randall, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on October 19, 2001.
5 2 Ibid.
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28
magazine] to look like was serious and literary and at the same time pop an
accessible... and selecting the right display type [was] very important.”5 3
5 3 Kit Rachlis, editor-in-chief, Los Angeles magazine, interviewed by author with Mahshid
Hariri on March 5, 2002.
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29
ADDENDUM
START-UP OF A LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE: THE BATTLE PLAN
Completing the research outlined in the present paper has opened this author’s
eyes to more perils and opportunities that ever imagined, all of which are part of
nurturing a new L.A.-based magazine into being.
As discussed, timing the launch of a new magazine in today’s media
environment entails both a greater risk balanced against the possibility of lesser
competition. Based on the experiences of the past, there is strong evidence that Los
Angeles can sustain an additional general interest publication. The trick is to found a
magazine with a unique, fresh enough angle to effectively wind its way into the hearts
and minds of L.A. readers.
Below are a few of the planned magazine’s vital statistics:
1) Editorial philosophy
The new publication will be an arts and culture magazine for and about
Southern California, from Santa Barbara to San Diego. It will focus on young, up-
and-coming artists, writers, photographers, musicians, filmmakers, etc. who render
Los Angeles the “It” place of the 21st century. They are the people, usually under 35
and making less than $35,000 a year, who are most passionately engaged in making
fresh, exciting art - even as the mainstream has yet to take notice of them.
The new magazine aims to give wider exposure to these artists, who are
sometimes teetering on the cusp of mainstream acceptance but whose work, for the
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30
most part, exists on an almost subterranean level in the local consciousness. The
people up to their heads in the know are aware of these artists, but they are largely
invisible to the rest of arts and culture-minded residents of L.A.
The publication will be a quarterly general interest magazine at first, focused
and hyper-local in its coverage and sensibilities.
2) Competitive Set
The start-up publication with compete for an audience with the Los Angeles
Times, particularly the Calendar Section; L.A. Weekly, O.C. Weekly, New Times, etc.
The Los Angeles Times has been consistently weak in covering emerging artists or
trends. Only so-called alternative publications like L.A. Weekly and New Times
represent a serious challenge, more so because they are free. However, both these
magazines have a strong political agenda that sometimes unpleasantly tinges their
coverage of arts and cultures. Further, as weekly publications, they can't afford to
maintain any kind of more elaborate, quality production values. (The weeklies are
printed on newsprint paper, etc.)
3) Target Audience
The new magazine will not attempt to over-reach, and focus instead only on
L.A.’s culture vulture audience: potential lovers of local arts and culture, young and
old, regardless of their income bracket. A large chunk of the target audience will be
of course, comprised by the very artists that represent the fodder of the magazine.
And indeed, there is no shortage of such demographic in Los Angeles.
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31
4) Circulation and Distribution
The magazine will start quite small, and test the market with a first issue that
will aim for a 5,000 circulation. It will be distributed in local and chain bookstores,
music stores, video stores, art and film schools and college campuses and on
newsstands; it will also be promoted at local arts, film and culture festivals. Later on,
efforts will be made to establish a subscription base, by advertising in other local
media outlets and by generating word-of-mouth.
5) Art Direction And Writing
The magazine will be printed in color, on medium-grade paper. For talent in both
the art department and the editorial department, the magazine will raid local art
schools and colleges (Cal Art, UCLA, USC). At first, the magazine will only employ
a team of two managing editors (who will also function as writers), an art director and
an advertising director. The first few issues will consist of stories, reviews, essays and
photo montages contributed by the editors and farmed out to free-lancers for a $250
nominal fee.
Depending on the public’s response to the inaugural issue, the bulk of the
responsibility for the magazine’s content may or may not remain mainly in the hands
of the editors and a few regular free-lance contributors. The end game is to develop a
stable of consistent, trustworthy yet constantly surprising contributors, which will
later become additions to the full-time staff of the magazine.
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32
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) Adler, Renata, Gone: The Last Days o f the New Yorker (Simon & Schuster,
New York, 1999)
2) “Au Revoir to an Icon,” Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2001
3) Brown, Tina, interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show, PBS, January 13, 1998
4) Brown, Tina, interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show, PBS, January 24, 2002
5) “Bust Magazine Refuses to Go, Well, Bust,” Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2002
6) Christie, Tom, articles aditor, L.A. Weekly, interviewed by author on May 22,
2002
7) Dalton, Christina, associate features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine,
interviewed by Mahshid Hariri on May 23, 2002
8) “Eyes On the Size,” Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2002
9) Guccione, Bob, Jr., editor and publisher, Gear magazine, interviewed on The
Charlie Rose Show, PBS, April 8, 1998
10) “L.A. Story,” Los Angeles magazine, December 2000
11) “Lifelines Cut, Talk Magazine Goes Silent,” New York Times, January 19,
2002
12) “Only Gossip,” New York Times magazine, March 3, 2002
13) Randall Stephen, executive editor, Playboy magazine, interviewed by author
with Mahshid Hariri on October 19, 2001
14) Rachlis, Kit, editor-in-ehief, Los Angeles magazine, interviewed by author
with Mahshid Hariri on March 5, 2002
15) “Regarding Media; Magazine Moguls Meet Amid Doom and Gloom,” Los
Angeles Times, October 26, 2001
16) “Regarding Media; Reaching Out, With Cheek, to Young Jewish Readers,”
Los Angeles Times, January 17, 2002
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
17) Ring, Frances, former associate editor, Westways magazine, interviewed by
author with Mahshid Hariri, November 5, 2002
18) Smith, Martin, senior features editor, Los Angeles Times magazine,
interviewed by Mahshid Hariri on May 23, 2002
19) “Talk to Utter Its Final Issue,” Los Angeles Times, January 19, 2002
20) “Urban Tactic; Have Pen, Will Grovel,” New York Times, February 3, 2002
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Diaconescu, Sorina Andreea (author)

Core Title A prospectus for a Los Angeles arts and culture magazine from the graduate school

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

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

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

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-301057

Unique identifier UC11336957

Identifier 1414875.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-301057 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 1414875.pdf

Dmrecord 301057

Document Type Thesis

Rights Diaconescu, Sorina Andreea

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