A third obstacle is actually“seeing”the work，according to Kitch.She observes，“It is hard to see what an illustration really looked like when it's on microfilm(as so many old magazines now are in university libraries)，let alone have a sense of the overall impact(color，size，etc.)of a magazine cover.When I did get to see the art itself，though，that was the primary joy.Magazine illustration from the early 20th century is a body of beautiful work.Almost no one else in journalism history research had written about illustration(most of my‘literature'was in art history)，and because I had worked for two magazines(McCall's and Good Housekeeping)that were both more than a century old，I had a real appreciation for what the images added to the articles and to the identities of the magazines.I also could better understand why people of that time period bought so many magazines and kept them in their homes as valued objects.”
According to Patricia Prijatel，who recently spent a sabbatical year in Slovenia，the biggest challenge of studying international magazines is translating both cover images and cover lines within a cultural context.“In Slovenia，”she says，“magazine covers dealing with September 11 used the same types of images as in America-the exploding World Trade Center towers and，occasionally，a photo of Osama bin Laden.The cover lines on the surface seem easy to translate-it's not too much of a stretch to conclude that'Apokalipsa V Zda'means'Apocalypse Now.'But a photo of Osama bin Laden in a Slovenian magazine has a far different subtext and，therefore，impact，than in an American magazine.While the Slovenes were outraged at the attacks and sympathetic to America's terror，they also saw bin Laden as a creation of the American military and the attacks as a result of American's sporadic international military intervention.Likewise，the threat of a war has a far different meaning in the United States than it does in Eastern Europe，where the serene countryside is pockmarked with the scars of thousands of years of conflicts.These nuances are easy to miss，but missing them leads to a misunderstanding of the meaning of the cover to the Slovene reader.”
Magazine covers not only offer information about what's inside a particular issue，they also provide significant cultural cues about social，political，economic，and medical trends.As both historical artifacts and marketing tools，magazine covers deserve closer study.Unfortunately，the topic has not attracted many scholars.This issue of the Journal of Magazine and New Media Research offers six articles devoted to magazine covers-a record number in a single volume.I am delighted to have had the opportunity to edit this special issue，which I believe will be a valuable resource for scholars and for students.
The Construction of Readership in Ebony，Essence and O，The Oprah Magazine
读者群体的构建在《黑檀树》？《本质》和《奥普拉杂志》中的体现
Lee Miller
摘要：依据文化唯物主义理论，本文通过评论分析？研究了三份著名的美国黑人生活杂志构建读者群体的做法，这三本杂志分别是《黑檀树》？《本质》和《奥普拉杂志》？作者认为这些杂志试图确立一个政治和社会议题以便锁定目标群体成员并通过激发他们的自我定义？灵性和强烈的“唯我独尊/自我”意识来赋予他们一种特权及体验巨大权利的方法？
本研究以雷蒙德·威廉斯的“物质文化和文艺产品在历史唯物主义中的特征”的文化唯物主义理论为基础展开？依据此观点，全部文化活动都是物质产品的形式，该形式作为一种明确的实际的交流根植于某个特定的社会历史期，亦即，产生于特定的社会？经济和政治条件之下？本文尤其集中在安东尼奥·葛兰西的文化霸权主义的观念以便认识整个社会进程的完整性，包括主要思想？含义及其价值？霸权是超越文化和意识形态的一个积极的？动态的过程，因为，它将整个社会进程和对权势的具体的理解联系在一起？
The Birth and Rebirth of Definitive Black Culture
The earliest African-American specific lifestyle publications were born in the wake of a bludgeoning Freedom Movement.The need was intrinsic：In the mainstream press there was an innate invisibility of black people and black life.Historically，images depicting black culture were littered with racial stereotypes grounded in slave culture and were further accepted by society as“the way things were”or“common sense.”The founders of both Ebony and Essence magazine in 1945 and 1970 respectively，recognized the need for a media source that accurately constructed the black race in a racist society and gave voice to black aspirations.American culture was replete with racial and cultural ideology that circumscribed for them what“black”was and even more so，what blacks were not.Black publishing entrepreneurs believed that readers would appreciate a resource for definitive black culture.The news vehicles would not only highlight the intelligence and achievement of black Americans，in this renewed sense of racism and oppression called the Civil Rights Movement，the magazines were also viewed as a medium for the onset of African-American discourse.
The rebirth of African-American specific publications is less motivated by politics and racial ideology and more driven by the demands of popular culture and gender self-affirmation.Current examples include Today's Black Woman，Savoy，Honey，Black Hair and O，The Oprah Magazine.The most successful magazine launch in American magazine history，O appears as a major competitor with Essence and，according to an interview with Oprah by Essence contributing writer Audrey Edwards，Oprah's monthly cover image is positively changing the world's perception of African-American women(Edwards，2003).Along with Essence and Ebony's longstanding and successful run of black faces on their covers，O magazine joins them to deconstruct the belief among magazine publishers that“blacks on covers don't sell”(Edwards，2003).
