Saturday, August 29, 2009

Message to the magazine industry-focus on storytelling

the media available to people has way outpaced the ability and willingness of publishing to keep up. The possibility of audio and video and motion graphics and Flash design have bypassed or been ignored by most publishing companies. Not that there aren't elements of those on some print publishers' websites, but the art and craft of storytelling hasn't been reinvented to incorporate those media.


It's worth a read of Jim Gaines' interview over at Media Shift as he talks about the changing environment for magazines.

The former reporter at Newsweek and later, managing editor of People, Time and Life magazines at Time Inc gives a range of view on the publishing industry.

He firmly believes that magazines have a part to play in the art of storytelling adding that

The fact that these media all co-exist in a form that's ubiquitous and becoming more mobile all the time suggests that it's manifest destiny, it's not a passing fancy. Life magazine, which I used to edit, started with photography, it started with a media form. Different kinds of storytelling follow available and compelling media. That's how television started, how radio started. I don't pretend to know all the forms it will take because the future will tell us that, and reader reactions will tell us that. As the platforms become ubiquitous, this kind of storytelling will become dominant.

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