"Will the Internet Kill Magazines? Did Instant Coffee Kill Coffee?"

Today, print media obituaries are neither new nor all that surprising. In fact, it seems as though we have grown accustomed to the fact that print is dying and/or already dead.

Understandably, this prevailing narrative is deeply concerning to those in the relatively stable magazine sector of the print mediascape. In the face of this trend, many in the magazine industry are moving to take matters into their own hands.

While bloggers and pundits proclaim print as dead, these magazine industry insiders are preparing to officially discredit these statements - which they dispel as "merely myths".

For one, the heavyweights of the magazine industry recently joined forces to proclaim that while the rest of print media may be on their last legs, magazines are very much alive and well.

On March 1, a joint announcement was made that the largest print advertising campaign ever created to promote the vitality of magazines as a medium is in the works. Essentially, the "Magazines, The Power of Print" campaign will work to curb the general public’s relative acceptance of a complete death of the print media industry.



In the promotional video, the leaders of five major magazine companies – Charles H. Townsend, Condé Nast; Cathie Black, Hearst Magazines; Jack Griffin, Meredith Corporation; Ann Moore, Time Inc.; and Jann Wenner, Wenner Media – can be seen advocating for the future of magazines.

Interestingly, one insider even proclaimed: “As long as those media continue to evolve and provide an irreplaceable value,” they will survive.

The "Magazines, The Power of Print" campaign will kick off in May 2010. The advertising-awareness campaign is scheduled to launch in "nearly 100 magazines, reaching 112 million readers per month, to promote the strength of-and consumer commitment to—magazines."

In order to achieve the utmost exposure, the advertisements will debut as full-colour spreads, strategically placed in May issues of the aforementioned publishers' most popular publications with attention-grabbing headlines: "We Surf the Internet. We Swim in Magazines." And "Will the Internet Kill Magazines? Did Instant Coffee Kill Coffee?"





In light of this latest undertaking, we must ponder both the logic behind and merit of such a public relations stunt. Further, we should be questioning why the magazine industry feels that it is necessary to proclaim their wellbeing while their fellow print media peers fall by the wayside.

Is an elitist personality emerging in the print mediascape? If so, is it warranted?