ECONOMIC WOES CLAIM US GAY MAGAZINES

The US gay print media is facing unprecedented challenges as a number of titles close due to the negative economic global climate.

Most recently, glossy national monthly gay lifestyle magazine Genre announced that it was suspending publication:

“We thank all of our readers, advertisers and editorial staff for their support throughout our more than 16-year history and hope that we can re-establish our relationship when times are better,” said Genre Media CEO David Unger.

Unger said that other local publications, including Washington Blade, Southern Voice, Houston Voice, South Florida Blade, David Atlanta and HX magazine, published by Genre’s parent company would not be affected.

In February, LA’s Frontiers Magazine announced that it would merge with sister publication IN Magazine in order to cut costs.

In addition, the growing power of the internet is also having a negative impact on print publications around the world. In October last year UK monthly magazine AXM said that it would cease print production and would become an online only brand.

The Advocate, one of the US’s oldest biweekly gay publications, has of this year become a monthly magazine, something which its publishers attribute not only to the recession but also to the internet.

“I don’t think there is a need for a biweekly magazine anymore with the Web,” Jon Barrett, the magazine’s new editor-in-chief, said in August.

In February, Playgirl magazine, which had a considerable gay readership, published its last print edition, although it continues to live on in the online realm.

It has been claimed in various reports that around 400 publications have closed down across the US in the last year alone.