Magazine 1999 Abstracts
Magazine Division
The Framing of Saddam Hussein: U.S. Foreign Policy and Coverage of Iraq in Time Magazine, 1979-1998 • Abhinav Aima, Ohio University • This study examined Time magazine’s coverage of Saddam Hussein for the last twenty years. The content analysis checked for the viability of the propaganda model within the framework of a statistically significant change in the nature of framing of Saddam along a corresponding change in U.S. foreign policy. It was found that the propaganda model was viable, with the number of mentions of Saddam increasing dramatically over time, a sharp decrease in the number of references praising him.
Environmental Issue Salience and Advertising: A Content Analysis of Business Week from 1988 to 1992 • Soontae An & Hyun Seung Jin, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study attempts to measure the relation between the public’s concern over the environment and the presence of environmental advertising. Public concern over environmental issues was measured by compiling the results of monthly national polls, in which similar versions of the question “What do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?” were asked. Business Week from 1988 to 1992 was content analyzed to represent the frequency of environmental advertising.
False Hope: A Historical Review of Magazine Coverage of the First Artificial Heart Transplant • Raymond N. Ankney, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This paper evaluates how magazines framed coverage of the first artificial heart transplant. Articles published in the first month after the transplant framed it as a tremendous success. Articles published during the next three months framed the operation as an unsuccessful, costly medical experiment. Finally, when Clark died after 112 days with the artificial heart, an interesting framing shift occurred. The articles were highly positive and similar to the articles published immediately after the transplant.
The Pursuit of Perfection: A Narrative Analysis of How Women’s Magazines Cover Eating Disorders • Ronald Bishop, Drexel University • Editors at the nation’s top women’s magazines devote only moderate coverage to eating disorders. This paper uses narrative analysis to explore the dominant themes in the 42 feature articles on eating disorders appearing in women’s magazines since 1980, when eating disorders found a recurring spot on the public’s agenda. One of the reasons for the sporadic coverage is the fact that publishers are reluctant to show readers the end-result of overzealous dieting.
Out of Their Hands: Framing and its Impact on Newsmagazine Coverage of Indians and Indian Activism, 1968-79 • Jennifer Bowie, Ohio University • This content analysis identified and described a media frame used by Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report to marginalize Indians and Indian activists from 1968-79. All seventy-eight stories that appeared during this period were analyzed. Activist events set a large portion of the magazines’ agenda. Indians were framed as a violent, militant, and divided out-group. Based on this deviant and illegitimate frame-and on limited survey data.
Education For The Bodybuilder Or Alibi For The Publisher? Sexual Mores In The Weider Muscle Building Course Of The 1950s • Bryan E. Denham, Clemson University • Joe Weider has been involved with bodybuilding since the late 1930s, and today he operates a health and fitness empire in Woodland Hills, California. His organization produces exercise equipment, nutrition supplements, books, and magazines, such as Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Shape and Men’s Fitness. This essay looks back to the 1950s and examines the sexual mores he advanced in a mail-order course designed for young men interested in weightlifting.
The Impact of Larry Flynt: An Overview of One Publisher’s Legal Battles • Amy M. Drittler, Ohio University • This study examines the long and colorful legal history of Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine. The paper focuses on four lawsuits, all appealed to the Supreme Court, involving the publication. Each case set an important precedent, but not every precedent was favorable from a media standpoint. The paper also examines Flynt’s personal influence upon the content in Hustler, and critiques his transformation from self-proclaimed porn king to self-proclaimed civil liberties activist.
Black in a Blonde World: Race and Girls’ Interpretations of the Feminine Ideal in Teen Magazines • Lisa Duke, Florida • Middle-class African American and European American female readers of teen magazines were interviewed for their interpretations of the feminine ideal presented by the texts. Black girls were uninterested in models because their culture values a heavier physique. Grooming advice was similarly seen as specific to White girls, who consequently invest more authority in the magazines’ counsel and images. The magazines are a one-way mirror through which Black girls observe White beauty culture.
The Women’s Liberation Movement, 1969-1972: Did the Graphics and illustrations in Ms. Magazine During the First Year of Publication Reflect or Contradict the Themes of the Movement? • Deborah M. Gross, Florida • During the late 1960s and early 1970s, feminist periodicals were founded to reflect and impact the women’s liberation movement. Ms. magazine, founded by Gloria Steinem, officially began publication in July 1972 and was one of the few feminist magazines that continued to flourish after its debut. This paper explores how the second wave of feminism influenced the portrayals of women in Ms. magazine editorial illustrations and graphics during the first year of publication.
Charles Moore’s Life Magazine Coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, 1958-1965 • John Kaplan, Florida • On September 3, 1958, photographer Charles Moore witnessed an argument between the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and two policemen on the steps of the Montgomery, Alabama courthouse. His picture of the local minister’s subsequent arrest was the first of Moore’s celebrated civil rights pictures to be published in Life Magazine. By 1965, Life had published Moore’s coverage of many of the significant events of the era including the fighting surrounding James Meredith’s admission to the University of Mississippi, the dogs attacking protesters in Birmingham and the savagery of the Selma March.
Brand Extensions Within The Magazine Industry: A Study Of Brand Extensions Of “Shelter” Magazines • Patricia Kinneer, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This exploratory study examines brand extension strategies within home and garden magazines. Findings from a mail survey to the top thirty-three circulation magazines shows that publications extend in order to attain additional revenue by attempting to increase readership and create new avenues for advertisers. Corporate mandates are also a key factor for extensions. Consumer research and new product promotion are key predictors of a brand extension’s success, while extensions fail for a variety of reasons.
Coverage of Major Diseases in Popular African Magazines and Scholarly Medical Journals, as Public-Health Priorities • Cornelius B. Pratt, Zambia and Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce-Southern Africa • This study investigates the frequency and the format of health-related messages and their associated words, metaphors and phrases in four publications distributed widely in sub-Saharan Africa. The coverage of Africa’s five major diseases during a l7-year period (1981-1997) indicated the dominance of HIV/AIDS items, from the early to the mid-1990s; however, its coverage was minuscule in the early 1980s. In aggregate terms, malaria had the second-highest coverage, followed by tuberculosis.
Magazines In The ‘90s: Are They Really Turning Boys Into Girls? • Cheryl Rainford, Drake University • Several authors have recently argued that men’s magazines are becoming more like women’s. This study uses magazine covers and cover blurbs to examine GQ, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, and Vogue from the 1980s and 1990s to note changes. No trends toward increasing similarity over time were noted. In fact, men’s magazines broadened their range of editorial focus, while women’s narrowed.
Exploring Patterns In Coverage of the Internet by Three U.S. News Magazines • Matthew M. Reavy, Scranton • This study examines coverage of the Internet by three U.S. news magazines, uncovering evidence of a Positive-Negative-Neutral in reporting of the emerging phenomenon. During the initial year of coverage, the magazines devoted more space to overly positive coverage than to overly negative. The percentage of negative coverage rose significantly during the second year. Negative coverage, as a percentage, dropped during the third year, as reporting became more objective.
The Rise of “Good Reading” over “Good Writing”: How and Why Women’s Magazine Fiction Changed in the 1950s and 1960s • Alison M. Rice, Northwestern University • This paper examines the shift from literary to “reader identified” fiction in the women’s magazines of the 1950s and l960s. Rather than analyzing the content as previous scholars have done, however, it seeks to provide the institutional context for these changes in fiction. It does this by drawing upon more than 800 pages of magazine business correspondence written by Wade H. Nichols, Jr., editor-in-chief of Redbook and Good Housekeeping during this time period.
Have Female Stereotypes Changed over Time?: A Longitudinal Analysis of Women in Magazine Photos • Shelly Rodgers, Missouri-Columbia • This study uses a longitudinal approach to measure changes in female stereotypes in newsmagazine photographs. The results indicate a slow but steady increase in the number of females represented in news photos between the 1970s and the 1990s. Likewise, the male-to-female ratio shows a decreasing trend. Improvements in stereotypes were also noted. More females appeared in nonstereotyped than stereotyped roles. And, although more females were stereotyped in terms of the photo topic, females did appear in a wider variety of topics overall.
It Was A Tough Year For The Babe… And Even Tougher For Roger Mans: Combining Interviewing And Content Analysis To Explain Coverage • John P. Smith, Drake University • This paper is an attempt to capture the coverage and characterization in the magazine press of the man Roger Mans, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa were chasing in the 1998 baseball season. How did the newsmagazines cover Roger Mans in 1961, and why did the contemporary record-breaking hitters react so differently to press scrutiny than Mans had? Coverage from both baseball eras is examined in Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report.
Baking a Bigger Pie: How Television Helped Magazines, 1950 to 1970 • David K. Sumner, Ball State University • This article argues that television helped the magazine industry grow. It presents quantitative data showing that both circulation and advertising revenue grew steadily between 1950-1970. It also presents data showing that ad expenditures for all media grew more rapidly the economy, thus creating a larger “advertising pie.” The reason that television helped magazines is because magazines exist only to satisfy various interests. Television exposed people to more ideas, new places and hobbies to be interested in.
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