Magazine 2013 Abstracts
“Trail of Corpses”: Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report’s Coverage of Genocide in Southern Sudan, 1989-2005 • Sally Ann Cruikshank • This study examines how three U.S. national magazines, Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report, framed the conflict in southern Sudan. Based on a textual analysis of the reports, the most salient frame associated with the conflict throughout all the coverage was that it was a “religious” civil war. In all three magazines, two dominant themes emerged: famine and the way children were being affected by the war. The implications of these findings are discussed at length.
Magazines in the new millennium: A concept explication • Joy Jenkins, University of Missouri • The format, content, and appearance of magazines have changed considerably during their history. As a result, the already fluid definition of “magazine” is changing. Following the steps described by McLeod and Pan (2005), this paper explicates “magazine.” After describing the history of magazines in America, the paper analyzes the definitions that have been assigned to magazines and examines their empirical properties. Lastly, the author proposes a new conceptual definition of “magazine” and suggests operational procedures.
Development of Men’s Magazines Industry in Taiwan • Chingshan Jiang, University of Nebraska at Kearney • The emergence of men’s magazines in Taiwan forms an interesting case study when looking at the growth of global media. Not only are men’s magazines popular in Taiwan, but they also shape readers’ attitudes about masculinity. International men’s magazines in Taiwan have had a significant influence on the format and content of local men’s magazines. Furthermore, the globalization of men’s magazines which includes foreign fashion, lifestyle, Western masculinity and editorials suitable for advertising has had an impact on the design and content of local men’s magazines in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is to examine how men’s magazines in Taiwan are constructed as hybrids incorporating both local and international cultures.
Exploring How College Magazines Portray Science and Scientists: A Comparative Analysis of Harvard Magazine and KU (Korea University) Today • Hwalbin Kim, University of South Carolina; Jeong-Heon JC Chang, Korea University • This study explores how two college magazines – Harvard Magazine and KU Today – portray science and scientists. Based on a framing theory as a theoretical framework, we conducted a content analysis of science stories. Findings of this analysis show that Harvard Magazine framed science as the progress issue while KU Today portrayed science as the convergence and communication theme. As elite media, the university magazine can serve as a guide for news dealing with scientific research.
Between academia and journalism: Formation of the intellectual field in postwar South Korea (1953-59) • Ah-Reum Kim, The University of Tokyo • This study investigates the close ties between the media and knowledge production by analyzing rise of the intellectual field. An intellectual group formed around the magazine, Sasanggye, is considered as a middle range of analytical tool and material conditions of 1950s’ South Korean intellectual society are examined. These conditions situate the intellectual field between journalistic and academic field and suggest the way in which intellectual paradigm of American knowledge was appropriated.
Examining the lens on the world: Reader negotiation of identity through National Geographic coverage of Puerto Rico • Andrew Mendelson, Temple University Journalism; Nancy Morris, Temple University • This study examines how a 2003 National Geographic Magazine article on Puerto Rico was interpreted by Puerto Ricans. Their reactions to their representation by a U.S. magazine that positions itself as an arbiter of cultural knowledge is supplemented by examination of NGM content and interviews with NGM staff. NGM faces new challenges in representing culture in the Internet era in which media representations of the “other” are increasingly available to the “other.”
“50 Ways to Seduce a Man” vs. “The Better Sex Diet”: A Content Analysis • Chelsea Reynolds, University of Minnesota • This study analyzed magazine framing of sex, sexuality, and sexual health. The researcher conducted a content analysis of 134 sex articles in 53 issues of Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Redbook, Esquire, GQ, Maxim, Women’s Health, Self, Men’s Fitness, and Men’s Health. Consistent with previous examinations of magazine sex content, women’s and men’s health and lifestyle titles gave more attention sex as entertainment than they did to sexual health or human sexuality. Differences between genres’ frames are discussed.
Portrayal of a Man and his Magic: The Image of Walt Disney in Magazines from 1934-1969 • Andi Stein, Cal State Fullerton • This study focuses on the image of Walt Disney that was portrayed by the magazine media during his time as the head of the Walt Disney Studios and in the years following his death in 1966. The study evaluates the recurring themes that emerged in magazine articles written about Disney to show how these articles portrayed him as an individual as well as within the context of his leadership role in his company.
Men’s images in women’s eyes • Yan Yan • Although women and girls have long been reported under great pressures from the image of “ideal beauty” communicated by mass media, little research focuses on the mediated “ideal male” image and its potential influences on the women’s expectations of the men. The current research examined how the “ideal male” and its related constructs were communicated by four top female beauty and fashion magazines— Vogue, Elle, Glamour and Cosmopolitan in 12 countries. Results showed that the ideal male and its related constructs varied significantly across magazines, indicating that the representation of male subjects was greatly influenced by each magazine’s self-positioning strategies and editorial intentions. Culture played a unique role in the representation of ideal male image. In particular, the U.S. and European magazines kept a relevant cultural independency in male model selection, but other countries confronted with a danger of being assimilated into the Westernized standard.
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