Academic Research About Magazine Covers:Refereed Conference Presentations
Refereed conference papers are another avenue for discovering the latest research in journalism and mass communication.Over the years,I've found some research about magazine covers at the annual convention of the Association of Education for Journalism and Mass Communication(AEJMC),purchasing them in the“paper room”and toting them back home.Unfortunately,some papers listed in the program aren't placed in the room for sale,or sell out early.Finding them later in AEJMC or ERIC archives is a serendipitous proposition at best.The most efficient way to discover the latest refereed research about magazine covers is to attend annual conventions.As an appendix at the end of this essay,I've listed the magazine cover research papers I've found at AEJMC conventions.Most,but not all,were presented in Magazine Division research sessions.So far,I haven't found these papers in published form,which is unfortunate.
Conclusion
David E.Sumner,whose study of all 2128 Life covers appears in this issue,points out that few scholars are attracted to studying magazine covers.“I think the reason for the dearth of research is that designing magazine covers that work is an art and not a science.Because covers are primarily art and not text,they can't be studied by content analysis as easily as text for‘positive'‘negative'or‘neutral'directional content.”
Sumner says he was amazed and amused by the different approach that scholars and professional journalists take in studying magazine covers.“Editors and journalists assume that the cover is simply a way to sell the magazine.It never occurs to editors whether their covers are an accurate reflection of the demographics of society,of social trends,or whether they reflect any of their own political or ideological orientations.They just want to sell the magazine so they can keep their jobs and preferably get promoted to a better job.I see nothing wrong with that;I am an ardent capitalist since my father was a self-employed businessman,”Sumner says.“Scholars from other disciplines assume that magazines are supposed to be a‘cultural artifact'and in some vague way accurately reflect or influence society.It never occurs to scholars that magazines have to make money to stay in business.They think that designing a cover so that it will sell the magazine is the result of some lowly,beastly motive.”
Carolyn Kitch,who utilized an interdisciplinary approach when writing The Girl on the Magazine Cover,identifies three challenges inherent in researching magazine covers.A primary problem,Kitch says,is the cover's context:“I think it's important in studying imagery to‘see'not only within the image,but also‘around'it,in terms of its cultural,institutional,political,and historical context.But it is so hard to know how to do that fully enough in order to be able to make broader claims about the meaning of magazine covers in a particular time period.No matter what the circumstances,there are always so many factors to consider,and in doing the research,I have discovered that the more I learn about a magazine,an illustrator,a time period,a political issue,a cultural trend,etc.,the more I realize I have yet to learn.It is hard to know when and where to draw the line in(or around)my primary and secondary research that provides context for analyzing a particular image or set of images.”
A second problem involves finding out who is responsible for the cover.Kitch says,“Most scholars simply attribute the nature(and/or message)of an image to the magazine,or,worse,to‘the media.'But someone thought up the concept and either created it or commissioned someone to create it.Sometimes you can find evidence of which case it was,but more often you don't know.For instance,with regard to the covers I studied for the book,I knew a lot more about Norman Rockwell's covers for the Saturday Evening Post,because books(based on primary source material)have been written about both the Post's editor at the time(George Horace Lorimer)and Rockwell himself.So I knew that Rockwell would bring in a couple of sketches,Lorimer would pick one,and Rockwell would finish it.In other cases,an editor or art director would tell an illustrator what he wanted;in still other cases,illustrators would create images(not knowing in what context they would be used)and then try to sell them.These circumstances have bearing on whose‘fault'(or credit)it is that a certain image seems to have had a certain meaning at a certain time.But you don't have this information unless you have access to business correspondence or an autobiography or some other good primary source from the time.”
A related challenge,Kitch adds,“is knowing that you are right in your assessment of the‘meaning'of an image,especially when it is so old.How do I know that what I understand from an image is what people saw and thought a hundred years ago Again,primary source material(letters to the editor,circulation figures,etc.)can be of help here,but it's impossible to ask the audience themselves.”