The future of newsmagazines

Abstract

More than 80 years ago, Time magazine was launched in the United States, heralding the birth of a new journalistic genre. Since then, countless newsmagazines have appeared around the world. What are the elements that contribute towards the success of this journalistic genre today? And what are the perspectives for the future of newsmagazines? This study analyses 26 issues of six newsmagazines-Time (four copies), Newsweek (four), L'Express (five), Le Nouvel Observateur (five), Sábado (four) and Visão (four) during January 2009. The focus of the study is on the covers (cover lines, images, design) and the subjects that each magazine chooses for the front page. The objective is to cross-reference the data gathered using content analysis with the results of a previous study of newsmagazines in 1999. Comparing the reality of 10 years ago with newsmagazines today facilitates understanding of the differences between this genre and others, as well as the ways in which newsmagazines are adapting to the advances of digital journalism. It will also assist in understanding whether it is really possible to talk about a "newsmagazine genre", based on the differences and similarities found within the selected corpus. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.