No other popular mass medium rivals magazines for timelessness, permanence, and scope. Magazines reflect and mold the issues, opinions, and trends of the present; they also interpret and shape society’s collective memory of the past. Although critics fret about celebrity journalism and advertising pressure on editorial content, the diversity of magazines makes them a voice
A “magazine” is a type of periodical characterized by entertaining and miscellaneous matter written by more than one author, often with illustrations. It is usually distinguished from a newspaper by containing less news coverage and by a lower frequency (weekly, monthly, or less). In the nineteenth century magazines were distinguished from reviews or quarterlies by
The concept of news as a component of a magazine’s editorial content is as old as the medium. The Gentleman’s Magazine is regarded by magazine historian Frank Luther Mott (1938) and others as the first to use the word as part of a periodical’s title; it was begun in 1731 by a London printer, Edward