Letter from the Editor

Abstract

Letter from the Editor Kevin M. Lerner The Magazine Media Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication—the sponsoring association for this journal—has been preoccupied for several years with an existential question: What is a magazine? There have been panel discussions at the annual conference (see vol. 18, no. 1, of this journal for a transcript of one of those). There have been long debates about what the division should even be called (Magazine? Magazine Media? Narrative, Long-Form, and Community Journalism?). The design of this journal even mimics one of the traditional structures of a print magazine, with peer-reviewed research echoing the “feature well”; a back of the book, with reviews; and a front-of-the-book section, too, which in this journal means a place for essays and explorations and transcriptions that don’t fit into either of the other two categories. In this issue, that front-of-the-book space is given over to a pilot study by Catherine Staub of Drake University (an institution well-represented in this issue). She wanted to discover whether or not her students saw content-marketing publications that mimic the magazine form as any more or less of a magazine. The results, while preliminary, are surprising and open avenues for new research. This issue also contains three refereed research papers. In different ways, each of them reaches into the popular culture, a very comfortable place for magazines. Ashley Walter, of Pennsylvania State University, examines covers of Rolling Stone, the venerable journal of music and politics. Chad Painter of the University of Dayton and Patrick Ferrucci of the University of Colorado use a pop culture artifact—a television show—to investigate the portrayal of women journalists. Finally, Clay M. Craig of Texas State, Mark A. Flynn of Emmanuel College, and Andrea M. Bergstrom of Coastal Carolina University analyze food advertising in magazines. And you will, of course, also find five book reviews in this issue. [End Page vii] Kevin M. Lerner Marist College, kevin.lerner@marist.edu Copyright © 2019 Magazine Media Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication