The World of Print
Good choice! It’s better to stick with what you know. That new Internet thing will never catch on. Who reads on computers anyway? Newspapers and magazines have a combined worldwide circulation in the billions. How many readers will you reach through the Internet? Maybe three at best!
Now it’s time to evaluate your choice. Will you write for newspapers or magazines? Let's take a closer look. |
Photo Credits:
1) Vancouver Film School
2) Murray Barnes
3) Zhao
4) Liz.
Used under a Creative Commons attribution license.
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Newspapers
As a publication today, newspapers are typically published daily and tend to focus on current events, business, entertainment, and sports. Advances in printing, along with laws protecting the freedom of the press, have allowed newspapers to flourish over the last 200+ years.
With the invention of the telegraph, wire services were able to gather news and transmit it around the world. This allowed newspapers to gain a greater importance in the world as purveyors of the news. No longer was the news just local, but now it was global and current. With every new advancement in technology, the newspaper has steadily improved its ability to deliver the news to its audience. The globalization and consolidation of newspapers has meant that stories can be written in one location and transmitted for publication in many other locations. National newspapers will often operate in this way. Critics point out that such efficiencies have resulted in a reduction of local and individual voices in the news media which may be seen as a loss of relevance. Reference Newspapers Canada. (2013). The evolution of newspapers. Retrieved from http://www.newspaperscanada.ca/about-newspapers/history-newspapers |
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Magazines
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It was at the end of the 19th century that the first widely-circulated magazines began to appear in America. Time magazine, the first weekly magazine to focus exclusively on the news, started in 1923. With the birth of television, magazines faced increased competition for advertising dollars. This pressure would eventually contribute to the demise of general-interest magazines like Life, often credited with inventing photojournalism (Whittaker, 2013), which would stop publishing in 1972. To survive, magazines have tried to target their appeal to clearly-defined audiences (Emmert, n. d.). From fashion to model railroading, there are now magazines for nearly every topic.
The power of the magazine lies in its ability to blend full-colour, full-page images with in-depth analysis into a topic. Whether you wish to learn the fine art of tying a fishing fly or read about the impact of the latest natural disaster on the economy of an island nation, magazines can bring you this information in a way that newspapers cannot. Magazines are often seen as authoritative on the subjects they cover and their opinions can greatly influence their readership. References Emmert, F. A. (n. d.). U.S. media in the 1990s: Part I - overview and the print media. Retrieved from http://www.4uth.gov.ua/usa/english/media/files/media1cd.htm Whittaker, R. (2013). Magazines: The early history. Retrieved from http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/mag1.htm |
Decision Time
Choosing to publish a newspaper or a magazine will provide you with a fundamentally different experience. Do you want to report of the current events of your community, city, or culture, or do you want to write in-depth articles in a chosen format, genre, or topic? Providing an unbiased news source could be a very valuable contribution to your community, but providing a space for the discourse in the areas of your choice can create a rewarding, culturally enriching medium.
So what's it gonna be, a Newspaper or a Magazine?
So what's it gonna be, a Newspaper or a Magazine?
For Further Study
For a longer look at newspapers, feel free to check out this hour-long History Channel documentary on the newspaper.