Title: From “The world’s best dressed magazine” to “The men’s magazine with an IQ”: magazine journalism and new male readerships
Abstract: In the previous chapter, I offered an account of specific advertising and publishing knowledges and practices which intersected in the targeting of new male readers through the colour press between 1983 and 1989. What loomed large in this account was the sense that the advertising/publishing nexus was an important site for the public formulation and development of general interest men’s magazines. As we saw, much of the debate animating the commercial relations between publishing and advertising practitioners was devoted to defining in concrete terms the mix of contents and style of journalism of general interest men’s magazines. I suggested that the editorial mix and journalistic approach developed by the “style press” — and especially by The Face — was pivotal to this debate. The ability of The Face to attract young “opinion forming” men through an innovative style-based format meant that its format set some of the precepts for the contents and journalism of UK general interest men’s magazine. What remained underdeveloped in this account, however, was a substantive sense of the contents and journalistic style of the three magazines. It is necessary to explore these more fully now. What was the distinctiveness, then, of the format and journalism of The Face and how precisely did it impact on the journalism of Arena and GQ? How did these magazines address their male readerships? What form of knowledge and visual pleasure did they offer? I want to begin answering these questions by turning to The Face.
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Date: 1996-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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