What is a magazine?

Abstract

Magazines are one of the oldest of media forms, arguably ’the most successful media format ever to have existed’ (Holmes & Nice 2012: 1). But in an era of digital and convergent media, where technological platforms are multiplying, how can a magazine be defined? Teaching and researching in the space of magazines requires us to define our object of study. Producing and reading magazines involves an understanding of what the medium is, and what it is not – not a book, not a newspaper, not a constantly updated website. But it feels as if the ground is shifting beneath our feet. This paper will explore the current thinking about what magazines might be, drawing on a number of themes that emerge in the minimal scholarship available, textbooks, publishing industry websites, blogs, tweets and examples of magazines. After this discussion, a definition will be attempted that aims to not only ‘hold’ the magazine as it takes shape in the current climate, but might function across the long history of this most adaptable medium.

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