INFORMATION SOURCES ON MAGAZINES AND GENDER

Websites: Industry

http://www.nrs.co.uk/ - National Readership Survey, with some breakdown by demographics. Open Access: - Topline Readership: - choose category

http://www.abc.org.uk – Audit Bureau of Circulation. ABC Data: - Magazine Data: - Consumer Magazines: - choose categories (look for Men’s Women’s & Teenage)

http://www.ppa.co.uk/ - Periodical Publishers Association, with some useful information. Look under Circulation, & Data and Trends, and go to www.ppaadmarketing.net – for some research data into reader attitudes

http://www.emapadvertising.com/ - EMAP Advertising gives more relevant information than main EMAP site (http://www.emap.com). Magazines: - ABC, NRS (- go to categories for information on a range of magazines [not just EMAP] in that category) & Portfolio (- some individual magazine details & ratecard profiles)

http://www.mediauk.com/ - Media UK Internet Directory has a range of industry information and a lot of industry links

Websites: Academic/Educational

http://www.magforum.com/index.htm - Magforum is extremely useful, with material on the industry, on genres, on individual titles and on publishers, with data and links, plus FAQ New!
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/ - MCS has a little useful material:
• http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/magphotos.html - Daniel Chandler, “Cover Photos in Women’s Magazines”, using ideas from Ferguson
• http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/sid9901.html - Siân Davies, “Semiotic Analysis of Teenage Magazine Front Covers” (student essay), covers wider issues of representation and body image, with URLs given at end (some good, some dead) - very useful

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm – Media Awareness Network, Canadian campaigning organisation features material on Media Stereotyping and Sexualized Images in Advertising, reachable from the Issues page (http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/index.cfm) - very useful

Media Guardian (http://media.guardian.co.uk/) has many useful pages, on recent news stories, with a mass of current industry information and discussion over controversies. But you’ll need to register.

www.theory.org.uk/ has several resources:
• http://theoryhead.com/gender – David Gauntlett, Media, Gender and Identity – material from his book – very useful
• http://www.theory.org.uk/mcrobbie.htm – on McRobbie
• http://theory.org.uk/giddens6.htm – on Postmodernism
• http://theory.org.uk/ctr-role.htm – on Role Models, with a number of essays dealing with gendered magazines - very useful

http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/index.html – “Folk devils and moral panics” – easiest to find by looking for McRobbie on moral panics in index on LHS of page (under “Ma”), on the Communication, Cultural and Media Studies database

http://www.mediaknowall.com/gender.html – on Gender and Representation – has some very useful links to pursue, on Media KnowAll (http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevel.html)

http://www.stevewlb.zen.co.uk/ A-Level Media – good “booklet” on Representation

Textbooks

ed Peter Fraser, AS Media Studies for OCR Students (Hodder & Stoughton, 2005) – useful material on analysing contents & representation in magazines - very useful

ed Peter Fraser, A2 Media Studies for OCR Students (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006) - very useful little section on Magazine Industry

Tim O’Sullivan, Studying the Media (Arnold, 2003) – very useful sections on representation and gender (pp 78-94) & also quoting Winship on magazine covers (pp 122 123)

Stuart Price, Media Studies – includes some points from Winship, and also from McRobbie on Jackie

Theory

Myra Macdonald, Representing Women: Myths of femininity in the popular media – concentrating on consumerism and representation

ed Helen Baehr and Ann Gray, Turning It On: A Reader in Women and Media – most useful pieces: Ros Ballaster, “A critical analysis of women’s magazines” (gets increasingly difficult, but some useful observations) & Ellen McCracken, “The cover: window to the future self”

Joke Hermes, Reading Women’s Magazines – classic study of the variety of responses and pleasures from a range of readers

Anna Gough-Yates, Understanding Women’s Magazines: Publishing, Markets and Readerships (Routledge, 2003) – combines detailed theoretical approaches (summarised in first chapter) with detailed information on the industry. Most useful chapter, “Desperately Tweaking Susan: The business of women’s magazines in the 1990s” – difficult but useful

Ed Jane Stokes & Anna Reading, The Media in Britain: Current debates and developments (Palgrave, 1999) – useful chapters by Jane Stokes, “Publishing”, with useful brief pages on British Periodical Publishing, & “Use It or Lose It: Sex, Sexuality and Sexual Health in Magazines for Girls”, content analysis on sex in women’s magazines

College Intranet (S-drive): S:/media/magazines/Ferguson – conclusion to Ferguson’s book, Forever Feminine: “Plus ça change …” OK - I'll put it on here soon!

Analysis

Vivienne Clarke, Key Concepts and Skills for Media Students (Hodder & Stoughton, 2002) – useful section on “Analysing print-based media layout”, ie Sugar

Industry

Jenny McKay, The Magazines Handbook (Routledge, 2006) – textbook for magazine journalism course, with detailed information for would-be journalists

Benns Media Guide – lists all magazines with brief details + ownership details

Chris Alden, The Media Handbook (Guardian Books) - ownership details + some data + brief essays on industry

Postmodernism

Mike Edwards, Key Ideas in Media (Nelson Thorne, 2003) – brief general section

Gill Branston and Roy Stafford, The Media Student’s Book (Routledge, 2006) – useful material on audiences, advertising & consumer culture, celebrity and postmodernism


Please add any more you come across as comments. PP

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