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Samir Husni
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The Magnificent Seven
By Samir A. Husni, Ph. D.
Reprinted from PBAA Magazine
Chair, Professor, and Hederman Lecturer, Department of Journalism, The University of Mississippi
"The world is a dangerous place, and becoming more so.” This was the lead of a recent Financial Times special report on risk management. Well said, but not in the world of notable magazine launches. The magazine field is a dangerous place indeed and is becoming more so, but those magazines that rise to the top of the industry have more in common with each other than we even think.
To the notables, the world is a better place; a place in which both readers and advertisers want to create a “comfort zone.” Or what I have called for years, “mom’s chicken soup.”
However, into this dangerous world some very undangerous magazines have been born. Since 2000 I have been naming the most notable launch of the year: one magazine (two in 2000 because there was a tie) that stands head and shoulders above a crowd of 700-1000 titles annually. I am proud to say that the seven titles I have selected over the last six years are all healthy, and may be wealthy too. But I do not have to hasten to say that my success does not change what I have continually said: there are only two people who can predict the future of a magazine, God and a fool.
The magazines I have selected have been met with all reactions from the industry ranging from the obvious to the obnoxious. When I selected Dennis Publication’s The Week in 2001 the reaction was “who?” With InTouch Weekly in 2002 one reporter laughed at my selection and said “I’ll stay in touch.” O the Oprah Magazine was well received, not only by me but by everyone and their cousin. Who can say no to the woman that “knows for sure” everything about everything?
American Profile on the other hand was the dark horse that, even with the millions of copies that reach the marketplace on a weekly basis, was welcomed with a complete lack of interest and was written off. Its only crime was that it had aimed at the C and D counties of our nation. (A quick sidebar: how many media reporters do you know that live in a C or D county?)
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