Turning the Page: The Future of Magazines

I never thought I would be able to sit in on a conversation between Dean Evan Cornog, Eve Burton: Vice President and General Counsel of the Hearst Corporation, Philip Whitney: Vice President-Online Media of AmEx Publishing, and Stephanie Jackson: Vice President of Client Services at Zinio. Today, I got to do just that along with a full studio room of students who came to the Turning the Page: The Future of Magazines Event put on by Ed2010. A lot of the conversation between the panel revolved around the subject of digital media. In fact, three out of the four members of the panel had their iPads with them (Philip Whitney had his in his car). Clearly, the magazine world is changing, but definitely not diminishing. Of course the topic came up of the future of print magazines, and that didn't have as positive of an answer. The fact is, print magazines are dwindling and newsstand sales are very low, but according to Stephanie Jackson, print will never completely go away. Print magazines might become more of a "luxury item" in the near future since digital magazines are often cheaper and easier to get your hands on. Perhaps the best advice regarding us students came from Eve Burton regarding interns. She urged us all to come up with good ideas, because good ideas are hard to come by now-a-days. The discussion was an opportunity for myself and everyone to understand that the magazine industry is changing, but what isn't? I think the fact that magazines are keeping up with the changes in the economy and the industry is a good sign and a reason to look forward to the future.