Magazines are a form of print media that are printed periodically for a specific group of people with a common interest.
Magazine publishing started way back in the 1660s with Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (Edifying Monthly Discussions) being the first magazine to be published in Germany and in the world as a whole. This was in the year 1663. However, the next magazine that followed was much different than the first. The Gentleman’s Magazine published in1731 in England included more entertainment in form of essays, stories, poems and political commentary.
Magazines then looked like books, printed in black and white. They were merely a channel where literate men passed on their points in the above mentioned forms of entertainment. In 1739, The Scots Magazine was published and is still published up to date though as a daily business newspaper. In the year 1741, the first magazine in America was published and named American Magazine just three days before Benjamin Franklin’s General Magazine was published.
Several magazines were then established until in 1933 when the first men’s magazine, Esquire was published. This was the beginning of special-interest magazines. Further on into the 1950s to 1970s, magazines were inclusive of models gracing their covers.
Magazines in Kenya started publishing way back in the 1970s. An example of a magazine published then is Joe Magazine which was founded by Hilary Ng’weno, the publisher and Terry Hirst, the artist. This magazine was full of humour, used art and fiction to narrate cultural, political and social aspects of daily Kenya living. It target was the urban residents but after Ng’weno left in 1974, Hirst tried changing it to include the rural residents as well. However, it lost market and shut down in 1979. Ng’weno however did not end his publishing career there. He did some other publishing works such as Weekly Review, which nurtured important personalities such as Hanningtone Gaya.
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References: www.samanthasbridal.co.ke Stanley Murage- Creative Director, Samantha’s Bridal (0720316292) http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0154485.html#ixzz1bQvU4EoQ http://www.media7group.com/component/search/magazines%2Bhistory/%252F?ordering=&searchphrase=all http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_%28magazine%29 http://www.gvpedia.com/Kenya/Hanningtone-Gaya-Top-Magazines-Publisher.aspx Baran S. J., (2010), Introduction to Mass Communication. Media Literacy and Culture, 6th Ed., McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.