BUSINESS JOURNALISM

THIRD YEAR SIXTH SEMESTER

RUIA COLLEGE

The last few days…

What is a magazine?

• A periodical publication containing features of special and generic kinds

• A magazine may be generic or special interest and the contents would befit the theme designated to the magazine.

• Example, a woman’s magazine would only have woman related issues.

• Magazines thrive on consumerism and are broadly of two types: B2B and B2C.

What is magazine journalism?• Writing narrative, in-detail articles for a particular

set of audience predetermined is magazine journalism

• Journalists who write for magazines are expected to have a strong command over the subject

• Should have an eye for detail• Should have special knowledge of the genre • And should be an expert with the language

through which the magazine communicates with the audience.

Magazine Genres

• Just like there are two categories of magazines: B2B (also called as trade magazines) and B2C; there are two main genres of magazines

• General Interest magazine• Special Interest magazine• There is also a third category called as:

Niche Magazines

General Interest Magazines(in short, ‘trash’ for those who don’t like to read)

• General Interest magazines are those that cater to a wide variety of reading interests

• Examples are: India Today, The Illustrated Weekly of India (discontinued), The Week, Outlook, Frontline etc

• Though they are largely news magazines, such magazines carry features on arts, culture, environment, films, reviews, business and economics, gossips etc

• General interest magazines in India and world over have the largest readership

Special Interest Magazines

• These magazines are just like guys and girls… just like girls like gossip and guys like girls… these magazines too have specific interest that they indulge in…

• Examples are like Business World, Sportstar, Filmfare, Femina etc

• These are those that cater to the interest of a specific profession or group

• They have a small base of readership but very loyal and devout

• Even the ad contents in these magazines are directed to the specific class of audience

• Like Sportstar will have ads from Adidas, Puma, health equipment companies, sports watches and eyegears etc

Niche Magazines

• It is actually a subset of a special interest magazine (dabbe mein dabba!!)

• Like geeks… in our mother tongue, commonly known as Padhaku Bachche

• Like a magazine on Golf, which is basically a subset of a sports magazine eg: Golf Today

• Or, a magazine related to personal wealth and finance eg: Outlook Money

• Their target audience is narrowed down even further and have high degree of patronage amongst its readers

Categories of Special Interest Magazines

• Lifestyle magazines: in short Aiyyaashee• These cater to lifestyle related subjects, such as,

fashion, interiors, health, gems and jewellery• Idea is to project life as worth living and splurging• They are usually costly and are targetted towards

the elite and are not for the masses• They deal with lifestyle issues usually found as a

common occurrence among the rich and affluent• Examples are: The Society, Cosmopolitan, Verve,

Savvy etc

Other categories: ENTERTAINMENT

• As the name suggests, these magazines are published with the purpose of entertaining people

• They offer articles for a weekend or travel read, especially when people have leisure time

• They include various forms of entertainment such as television, films, music, dance, theatre

• Film magazines such as Filmfare and Stardust have been the most popular in this genre

Yet another: TRAVEL(for those born with wings bulging from both sides)

• Travel as a new niche in journalism has become very popular

• They feature places such as pilgrimages, historical cities, honeymoon havens with description of not only the places but other details like hospitality arrangements, tariffs, places to visit in a city, sight seeing locations etc

• They usually have travelogues of travel freak journalists who write their own account of a travel to a place

• Examples are: Outlook Travel

Other important categories are…

• Health • Sports• And above all - BUSINESS

• Each of these magazines deal with specific interest of a specific category of people

The Most Important Category of Special Interest Magazine…

• It is my favourite category… WOMEN

• Why do you think you have Women’s Day and not Men’s Day (although I feel all rest 364 days are of men)

• One important reason is… they are so nice and so sweet

The serious reason is…

• Women are the biggest consumers of lifestyle products

• They are the decision makers of matters related to finer elements of life such as the appearance of a house, the colour of a car, the dress for the children, the kind of food

• Besides, their expenditures on their own selves have paved the way for several billion dollar markets

Contents of a Women’s Magazine

• The main idea behind a Women’s Magazine is to glorify the four letter word ‘lady’

• They are meant to give a sense of freedom, a sense of a world of her own, a sense of greatness, stability and independence that lies within every individual

• These magazines vie among themselves to prove how better each one of them in bringing out the real woman within

These magazines typically offer contents such as:• Relationships• Health Tips• Fashion• Celebrity Watch• Cookery• Ettiquetts• Sex• Agony Aunt• And sometimes, Personal Finance

• Some categories of Women’s Magazine are: Femina, Savvy, Women’s Era, Grihalakhsmi, GrihaShobha, Meri Sakhi etc

• Regional language women’s magazine sell more than English Magazines

• English Magazines usually sell in metros and bigger towns but regional magazines have deep penetration in tier II and tier III cities

• Content wise to, they are different as regional magazines are less glamorous and are more serious and traditional in nature

Why do Women’s Magazine have…

Agony Aunt In India, and in Indian traditional families or sometimes even among the urban populace, adolescents are not comfortable speaking to

their peers of their problems. With the complications of urban life and the

responsibility on woman, the ‘agony aunt’ turn out to be a perfect way out for woman to

discuss their issues anonymously.

Why do Women’s Magazine have…

SexSex as a subject found its place in magazines from the

health point of view. A general interest magazine like Reader’s Digest have

also written about it from that perspective.Indians are conventionally uncomfortable on talking

about sex as its discussion was for long seen as a taboo.

Initially women’s magazines took up the subject from health point of view and gradually started writing

about it as their audience grew from middle class to the elite.