Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 31

Writing Women’s Magazines 27 and representations of femininity are negotiated and chosen by the editorial team? And how much of the reader is allowed into the magazine? The production and consumption of magazines does not take place in a neat, linear sequence - there is constant overlap and feedback between the magazine and its readership as both practices occur simultaneously and draw upon shared cultural codes and knowledges. McRobbie (1996) found that the journalists working on a magazine for young women saw themselves as very much belonging to the same cultural groups as the readership: The editors attribute the success of their magazine to the instinct that what they and their friends want to read or look at, proves to be equally appealing to readers. They not only identify with their readers, making decisions and arguing their case by casting themselves as readers, they also see themselves as actively assisting and thereby producing readers as fashionable young women (McRobbie 1996:179-80). In our research, the editor and staff of a successful woman’s weekly did, to some extent, reflect McRobbie’s findings as some journalists and designers had been readers of the magazine before working on it. Indeed, their affection for the magazine as readers prompted them to apply for posts within the magazine. Other staff, however, were clearly not as close to the readership and had difficulty knowing what to offer the reader in the magazine and whether readers would like it. This uncertainty produced tension in the magazine offices, resolved only temporarily when the results of focus groups showed readers to be happy with particular articles or features. The tension was especially marked before focus group results were known, as staff desperately hoped the readers would be favourable: We’re always dying to hear what the readers say, we’re always [asking] what did they say, and sometimes we think they’ll love that feature and they didn’t and, oh, we’re really upset because we want to give them what they like (Deputy features editor, interviewed April 1997). The necessity of closely studying the readers, to be constantly aware of what they want, produces more tensions because of the readership’s contrasting needs and opinions, all of which the magazine cannot possibly fulfil. An example of such contrasting opinions is given below: When we showed the focus group this diet, they had a quick look at it and