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Publishers have never been journalists. For a while, they needed journalists because every genre of print newspaper/magazine had an empirically determined perce
by 082349872349872 3y ago
Publishers have never been journalists. For a while, they needed journalists because every genre of print newspaper/magazine had an empirically determined percentage of ads over which subscriptions dropped, so there almost always had to be some content as filler to cut the ads down to that ratio. That equilibrium seems to have gone, in a way René Thom might have predicted.
- ghaff 3y agoContent being the thing you put around the ads (the ad hole as a former boss called it) was a truer description in things like trade rags and Computer Shopper. IMO, it's a bit uncharitable for magazines like SI in their prime although, of course, their revenues were heavily dependent as well--even if they sold subscriptions.
- 082349872349872 3y agoWhen would "SI in their prime" be? It looks like Luce really did care about the editorial side of the house (rather than just grudgingly grant it its independence), but he died in 1967...
- ghaff 3y agoI'm not sure how long I subscribed afterwards but SI in the late 70s/early 80s at least was still pretty good in my memory.