Another Mag Bites the Dust
November 6, 2007After publishing in two centuries (1901-2007) and to five generations of (mostly) women, House and Garden is no more, Mediabistro reports. Ninety Conde Nast employees will scramble for work within the company or outside.
I wasn’t a writer, subscriber or reader, but to paraphrase John Donne, each magazine’s death diminishes me. You could blame the decline of leisure, women’s changing roles, the rise of the Internet and of TV shows like HGTV (Home & Garden Television; not related) the dumbing down of America or anything else, but it’s still sad when a great lady passes.
Now the TV writers are on strike, and some think they’ll be able to contribute to magazines. Struggling magazine writers don’t welcome the competition, but if the TV writers are willing to write for free, they’ll find a home at the Huffington Post.
Magazines are dying a hard, slow death. And those who wrote for them, shot for them, posed in their pages or art directed them are finding the digital transition a difficult one.