‘Audubonis not Audubon’: Journalism as communicative logic in the pages of an NGO-produced magazine, 1960–1976

Abstract

Recent scholarship has noted the increased visibility of journalism that is subsidized or outright produced by non-governmental organizations, often tying the phenomenon to the post-millennial economic decline of news organizations and the digital revolution. This study demonstrates that non-governmental organizations engaged in communicative logics relying on norms and practices of journalism as early as 50 years ago. In the 1960s and 1970s, the National Audubon Society’s long-running magazine, Audubon, evolved from a bird-watching journal that relied on non-journalists as writers and value-laden personal narratives to a crusading example of advocacy journalism. The publication won a National Magazine Award for reporting excellence in 1976, signaling its acceptance into the journalistic establishment.