SUMMARY OF 'EXPLORING THE MEDIA'

Pages 116 - 119 give you lots of helpful information about how to analyse magazines:

Things such as the title - is there a play on words?
What fonts and colour are used and what do they connote? (target audience, brand identity).
Strap line - can it be linked to the brand identity?
Cover Lines - what they may reveal aout the target audience?
Main Image - who does it represent?
How does it appeal to the specific target audience?
Between the covers we need to think about:
The contents pages and what they offer (usually an overview of the features), the contents page could possibley include a letter from the editor which is usually part of the brands identity. The advertisements and who they target, this will tell you alot about the target audience. The double page spreads, how many colums? Picture:Text ratio? (etc...)

There are quite a few differences between Magazines and Newspapers, for example: Magazines are weekly, fortnightly or monthly whereas Newspapers are daily. Magazines come in a wide range of sub-genres, and you are more likely to find features than hard news. Newspapers cover topics of general interest for a specific geographical area, and they are ephmeral whereas magazines are more permenant. Magazines are more specialised and focused on a target market.


The magazine industry is generally dominated by major publishers:

IPC is American owned and part of the biggest media conglomerate in the world, Time Warner. Titles in its stable include: Now, NME, Nuts and Sugar.

EMAP previously a major player in the industry, but sold its magazine business to Bauer in December 2007.

Bauer is a German company whose titles include FHM, Empire, Heat, and Grazia.

Conde Nast, in the UK titles include Vogue, Easy Living, Glamour, GQ and House and garden.

The National Magazine company(NatMags) is owned by Hearst, some titles include Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Country Living and Men's Health.

BBC Magazines is a good example of commercial intertextuality. Many of their magazines are spin-off's from successful shows, so already have an established audience. Including the Radio Times, Teletubbies magazine and Top Gear.