Your favorite magazine is going out of business
It's only a matter of time
Two journalistic institutions are closing their doors. Sports Illustrated originated in 1954 and reached 3 million in circulation at its height. On Friday, the group that licenses its brand laid off the majority of its staff.
Pitchfork came of age with the internet and billed itself as the most trusted voice in music. If not the most trusted, it might have been the most feared. Bought by Condé Nast in 2015, it was announced last week that it would be folded into GQ and key staff would be let go.
They are hardly the first popular publications to be consolidated, stripped for parts, and trotted back out like three kids in a trench coat, but the close timing of the two has many wondering whose favorite magazine or newspaper will be next.
While Pitchfork was always meant to have its audience absorbed into other Condé properties, Sports Illustrated has a good chance to be resurrected on its own. The brand is too valuable not to. So the iconic covers and swimsuit editions will live on, but there will be less and less between the pages. They’ll opt not to pay the handful of veteran journalists they had left, the quality will further erode, and whoever licenses it next will wring out a few more bucks before they shut the doors for good.
Despite the best intentions and hard work of individual journalists, that’s the sad state of their business these days. The human connections that make for good writers and good stories take a back seat to the minimum viable product that can be slapped on newsstands.
While it’s mostly doom and gloom for the heavyweights of yesteryear, there’s some hope in the vacuum left behind. Despite dwindling attention spans for national and global news, people are willing to pay for writing that speaks to their niche interests. You see it right here on Substack across sports, art, and food.
People also still care about what’s happening in their neighborhoods. To that end, independent upstarts like Hell Gate in New York and the nonprofit Baltimore Banner want to serve their communities and are finding that their communities want to support them doing so.
It’s always sad when a familiar sight goes missing, but like the restaurant on the corner, something always takes its place. When it comes to what’s in our mailbox, we have an opportunity to support good writing directly. Let’s not fuck it up this time.