Memorable Magazine Moments

By Alex Contratto

March 2010  Ben Silbermann launches Pinterest in Palo Alto, Calif. This bulletin board-style photo-sharing site allows users to “pin” interesting articles, media and photos to share with the social world. Pinterest sees tremendous commercial success in 2011. 

October 2010: 

Barnes and Noble releases the Nook Color, which, with the November 2011 Amazon launch of the Kindle Fire, increases the popularity of reading on tablets.

November 2010:

Newsweek and The Daily Beast merge to become The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, a watershed moment for the convergence of traditional and online publications.

February 2011:

Time Inc. fires Chief Executive Jack Griffin five months after making him the first CEO hired outside the Time Inc. family.

April 2011: 

Journalist Jon Krakauer publishes an exposé on Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, in Byliner. In “Three Cups of Deceit,” Krakauer uncovers the financial and literary inaccuracies in Mortenson’s book.

May 2011:

New York magazine dedicates an issue to war photographers Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, who were killed in action. The photo essay “You Never Forget That First Taste of War” showcases some of the most memorable images from the photographers’ first experiences on the battlefield.

May 2011: 

The National Magazine Awards holds its annual gala. The New Yorker earns nine nominations and Los Angeles magazine received three nominations (its highest total ever). Six newcomers also received nominations: Cooking Light, House Beautiful, Lapham’s Quarterly, OnEarth, The Sun and Women’s Health.

June 2011:

Grantland, a sports Web magazine, debuts. Founded by ESPN columnist Bill Simmons, it releases a quarterly print edition in the fall of 2011 in coordination with McSweeney’s.

July 2011:

Lucky Peach debuts as a quarterly journal of food writing published by McSweeney’s. Its popularity has steadily increased, reflecting the recent trend of success for many food magazines. Creator David Chang, chef and owner of the Momofuku restaurants and the production company behind cooking show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

September 2011: 

ESPN The Magazine closes its New York City office. Many top editors decide not to make the move to headquarters in Bristol, Conn., leaving the magazine in disarray prior to the move.

September 2011:

New York magazine releases the “Encyclopedia of 9/11,” an issue memorializing the ten-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks—publishing powerful images of the destruction from one of America’s darkest days.

October 2011: 

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc., dies of pancreatic cancer. As the innovator behind Apple’s biggest creations—iTunes and the iPod—Jobs used the fascinating technology of tablet computing in the iPad to revolutionize the magazine and book reading experience.

October 2011: 

Apple’s Newsstand launches. Initially released on October 12, 2011, it is a digital database of newspapers and magazines, making it incredibly easy to download digital magazines straight to any iPhone or iPad.

October 2011: 

Hearst media launches a test issue of HGTV Magazine.  Hearst Magazines and HGTV merged to create HGTV Magazine, bringing a major consumer magazine to the market during a time when many other publications were closing their doors because of the recession.

November 2011: 

The Columbia Journalism Review celebrates its fiftieth anniversary.

December 2011:

Time magazine names “The Protester” as its Person of the Year in recognition of all those involved in the massive social movements of 2011. The accompanying article by Kurt Andersen honors the protesters of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Spain, Greece, Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Occupy Wall Street movements throughout the United States.

December 2011:

Christopher Hitchens, a writer for The Nation, The Atlantic, Slate, Vanity Fair and World Affairs, dies. A controversial yet revered debater, leader of the “New Atheism” movement and foreign policy interventionist, Hitchens wrote many editorials in support of the Iraq War.

March 2012: 

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes buys The New Republic. Twenty-eight-year-old Hughes becomes the editor-in-chief and publisher of the ninety-eight-year-old publication.

April 2012: 

The National Magazine Awards reveals its nominations for the 2012 Ellies. New York and The New Yorker lead all publications with six nominations each, while Country Living, The Fader and Vice receive nominations for the first time—all in the General Excellence category.

April 2012: 

Next Issue, an independent digital newsstand, launches. Media companies Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp and Time Inc. joined together to create the new platform that is often referred to as “Hulu for magazines.”

April 2012: 

Vogue removes from its website a March 2011 profile of Asma Assad, wife of the ignominious Syrian president, by Joan Juliet Buck, inciting outrage over both the original article, “A Rose in the Desert,” and the decision to take down the online version of the piece.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2012 at 10:00 am. It is filed under News and Views, News and Views and tagged with Alex Contratto. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.