Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 31
Writing Women’s Magazines
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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