Print

The Influence of Magazine

Magazines rely on reader loyalty. Much in the way that there are different types of book designed to be tailored to the readers' lifestyle, these base themselves on specific topics like music and then deeper into genre like Rock or DJ. It is like this how readers can relate to the material, the magazines also introduce the audience to new artists or styles which they may otherwise have ignored or not have heard of - this is their strongest form of influence. Another is in the form of advertising, with companies paying specific magazines to advertise their products, car adverts often appear in music magazines because their TA is men. This form of advertising means that everyone can win, the advertiser gets their product known by the TA, the publishing company get's paid both by the advertiser and the reader and the reader get's to read about their favourite subject while also being advised on products thy may find interesting- particularly if the audience is aimed at a younger audience with more disposable income than older readers.

The Influence of Newspaper

Newspapers have a similar effect on readers to books and magazines but in a radically different way. The purpose of a newspaper is to provide readers with news (as obvious as it seems, this isn't always the case) -newspapers often include multiple adverts, puzzles and comics; local papers, or Gazettes, include eulogies too. National newspapers have a different influence on readers to local papers because they contain political opinions and persuasions, they are often bias towards particular arguments and in news cases, they can be lenient to one particular side of the truth. Papers, in a growing attempt to keep audiences with the introduction of interactive media (below), have began to appeal to 'magazine' audiences: for example, in the latter part of 2012, 9/10 times the Sun newspaper had at least one member of the band One Direction on it's cover.

The Influence of Books

Books can give a very different influence to a magazine or newspaper in that they can mould a lifestyle in the form of one long text and influence opinions on broader matters than the trivial ones of magazines or political views expressed in newspapers. Catcher in the Rye is a famous example of this, the book influenced the killings and attempted murders of Rebecca Scheaffer, Ronald Reagan and John Lennon with it's complex issues of identity, belonging, connection and alienation. One book, the Bible, is very influential- it has a religious following of 2.1 billion and is a leading cause of war. Frankenstein (Or the Modern Prometheus) caused some controversy over the issues brought up in the book like 'playing god' and how it makes the reader empathise with the monster (who many believe is supposed to represent the devil).

Many non-fiction books have a great influence on culture; Samuel Johnson's English Dictionary, for example, has provided a great resource for education and reference. Denis Diderot's first edition of the Encyclopaedia also, and The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin- another controversial piece which earned Darwin both scientific credit and public humiliation, the book and it's author have been so influential that Darwin's image and discovery are detailed on the British £10 note.

The Impending Death of Print

Print is slowly becoming less and less popular with the rise of interactive media, better known as the Internet. With a growing age of people with smartphones and tablets with them at all times, many news publishers release their publications online. For a long time, books have been available in the form of an E-reader or Kindle, this doesn't necessarily mean that people have gone off the idea of print - it's just more efficient; no paper is used, all books exist on one platform so no shelf space is needed, many tablets are designed to be non reflective- making them easier to read in light and many have an in-built light allowing for nighttime reading without lamps, and most importantly all this makes reading digital books cheap. The downside of course is the loss of sense of possession that you get with a book or magazine which are traditionally produced to be kept or collected (unlike disposable newspapers) - this can often be off-putting for the consumer. Many believe that interactive media should be used for the reading of news and updates on particular topics. Where in a magazine there would be interviews and features, online there would be up to the minute news in brief. Newspaper companies have moved to publishing their media in much the way that you would read a magazine or book digitally, some have taken this 'online is for up to the minute news' believe to the next level; the Sun have produced Sun+, where longer articles (found in the print edition) are mixed with more current updates and changing time based media like videos.