Reading the New York Times Magazine isn't what it used to be | Michael Wolff

The magazine was once the most hotly anticipated Sunday read. Now it's been eclipsed by the showy T style publicationTwo magazines, both published by the New York Times, arrived in my house over the weekend, one thin, the other thick.The thin one, The New York Times Magazine, is largely about public issues, or reflections about the culture, or science, or literature. The thick one, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, is about fashion, design, taste, and luxury.This column is not, let me hasten to say, about the death of news values and civic interest, that the two magazines, side by side, might seem to reflect. Rather, it is about the nature of magazine publishing, and about publishers and the choices they make.It is also about nostalgia, as so much about publishing is these days. And about advertising, which, confoundingly, most writing about publishing is not about.The nostalgia: the New York Times Magazine was once, arguably, the most influential magazine in America (the runner ups would be the New Yorker and Time), as well as one of the most profitable. This had less to do with its famous long-winded prose, then with the fact that it was a supplement delivered with the Sunday Times, and therefore read at nearly the same moment on Sunday morning by the Times readership – some of the most influential people in America, in attentive repose. The magazine was a testament to the power of audience – or the power of its attention. For a writer, appearing in the Magazine... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #ad revenues #media business

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