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Magazine News Round-Up

• Better Homes & Gardens unveils its new editorial and design updates with its current issue. The new editorial includes a front-of-the-book column called "Fresh," in which fresh ideas, activities and products are highlighted and improved health coverage including breaking news and more healthy lifestyle tips. As for design improvements, Better Homes & Gardens updated its signature fonts and graphic elements throughout the magazine.

• Christianity Today International announced last week it will shutter Today’s Christian Woman, Campus Life College Guide, Glimpses and Church Office Today. In January Christianity Today International closed two other magazines and sold a third. Christianity Today International will continue to publish its flagship magazine, Christianity Today, and its Leadership Journal. Evangelist Billy Graham started Christianity Today in 1956.

• Troubled reality stars Jon and Kate Gosselin continue to dominate celebrity magazine covers due to their marital woes. Us Weekly and People magazine report above-average sales for the issues featuring the family from TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8."

Is Manipulating Magazine Cover Images Ethical?

In a recent article The New York Times reports on the continuous debate over fashion magazines' (Elle, Glamour, Marie Claire and Vogue) use of Photoshop and other image retouching measures to alter the appearance of cover models, thus feeding into Americans' obsession with an impossible standard of beauty.

New Yorker Magazine Cover Drawn on iPhone

We're wondering if artist Jorge Colombo's iPhone finger-painted scene of Times Square, which appears on the June 1st cover for The New Yorker, is groundbreaking magazine cover art or just part of an Apple advertising package? Either way, it's clever.

People en Español Rejuvenates

In hopes of continuing to stay alive in the diminishing arena of Spanish-language magazines, People en Español is adding health content and new design elements. People en Español debuted in 1996 and is currently has 6.4 million readers in the U.S.

Music Magazine Receives $166,000 from Readers

One week after asking for reader-donations Paste magazine has received $166,000.If donations continue Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson is hopeful the magazine will remain in business.

Publishers of Interview Launch New Modern Magazine

Brant Publications, the publishers of Interview magazine, launched a new quarterly design magazine called Modern. Modern magazine will first be mailed to subscribers of Magazine Antiques and Art in America, Brant's other magazine titles and will be paired with Art in America on newsstands in June.

Magazines Testing Innovative Ideas in Print

Recently the Wall Street Journal ran this interesting article on how innovative magazines are looking past the standard format, past recent trends of free content and online solutions and experimenting with different expressions of what a magazine can be in print.

People, Better Homes & Gardens Have Most Readers

Yesterday Mediamark Research Inc. released its spring 2009 report on magazine readership data; MRI surveys circulation, audience and readers per magazine copy. Unsurprisingly People magazine is again the leader in adult readers with 43.6 million. Better Homes & Gardens came in at number 2 (39 million readers) and AARP The Magazine came in at number 3 (35.6 million readers).

Paste Magazine Turns to Readers for Help During Short-Term Crisis

Last week music magazine Paste launched "Campaign to Save Paste" asking its readers to donate--any amount--to help the magazine weather the suddenly cash-strapped independent company. In a letter to readers Paste editors reassured readers that "2008 was our best year yet" with print subscribers, print ads and online advertisers at record highs but that last month was "brutal," with advertising dollars at an all-time low. As a thank-you to anyone who donates Paste magazine is offering 75+ rare and exclusive MP3s from bands like the Indigo Girls, The Decemberists, The Avett Brothers, The Jayhawks and more.

Vogue Editor Gives Rare Interview

Vogue's notorious editor Anna Wintour--who inspired the icy character (played by Meryl Streep) Miranda Priestly in the movie "The Devil Wears Prada," is profiled in a rare interview on CBS's 60 Minutes, airing this Sunday. Wintour, who is known for constantly wearing over-sized sunglasses (she explains in the interview), has been at Vogue's helm for more than 20 years. In the 12-minute segment she quells rumors that she will soon be retiring.