TIME’s Influence on American Culture
Although the future is skeptical regarding the success of the news magazine industry genre, currently TIME’S dominion in the gauntly genre is still solid compared to its competition. Since TIME’s beginning, it has flourished a relationship with American culture. TIME’s mark on the magazine industry alone is an overwhelmingly large one. From the original TIME magazine to the spin off of its people section which created People magazine, to Teen People magazine, to In Style magazine, to Entertainment Weekly, and even to People En Español, TIME has continually shed light on the market available for specialized consumers.
Because TIME dabbled in a little of this and that before committing to certain markets, TIME found the unfulfilled hole in the consumer’s wants and filled it. In this way, by introducing much-wanted spin-offs, TIME has indirectly affected American culture. The influence each of these magazines has on Americans originates from their beginning at TIME magazine.
In a more direct way, TIME has influenced American Culture. Before TIME, America was only informed of their national news and their international news by newspaper and radio outlets. The stories were hard news stories and daily updates. The only other way to get an analysis of the news would be to listen to an entertainment talk show on the radio or to float through the opinion section in the newspaper.
The magazine offered analysis and unique graphic features that provided more of an insight into the news than a 10-minute news bit or a 30-minute radio show could. More importantly, the news magazine provided both educational insight to the masses, as well as credible news stories and entertainment. The magazine didn’t have the time slots of radio or the strict non-creative policies of newspapers. TIME offered a deeper story than just the news of the day. As evident in television ratings, magazine circulations, and online “hits,” people responded to this way of obtaining news, and people still do.
The articles to be read in TIME are a clash of entertainment with news, and inevitably a clash of opinion and fact. TIME has consistently managed to be known for its analysis of the current. Whether it is politics, policy, economics, technology, or something else affecting the masses, TIME reflects upon it. TIME reveals and reviews America, and the rest of the world, to Americans.
There is little concrete evidence that TIME magazine has an effect on America. Only one example of slight proof comes to mind. Michael Wolff, of Vanity Fair, wrote an article exploiting what he believes as TIME withholding information during the John Kerry/ George Bush 2004 election to avoid blowing up political chaos. Wolff claims that in 2004, TIME magazine reporters purposefully chose to stay private about the widely disputed conversations between Karl Rove, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Matt Cooper, and Robert Novak.
Article comments
1 - Kevin Eagan
Interesting read. My wife has a subscription to TIME and I must say, I'm disappointed in its news quality. It seems like it's trying too hard to be "hip," and it shows. I wish they'd stick to in-depth world news coverage, because that's what makes TIME great. If I wanted to read about pop culture issues, I'd stick to the Web sites and magazines that deal with POP CULTURE not TIME.
2 - Steve Ellwanger
Greetings. I handle public relations for Mediamark Research & Intelligence. While MRI does collect consumer readership information about magazines, it does not issue the kind of "analysis" cited in this story. Quite often, someone obtains MRI data and uses it to write a report, issue a press release, etc., but MRI does not issue reports on individual magazines. It collects data and sells them to its clients.