Magazines

The first magazines were, in essence, journals that contained literary articles and essays in which the writers commented on issues of the day in the interests of creating a ‘better society’. Daniel Defoe is credited with producing the first British magazine/journal in 1704 - The Review - which was published three times a week. Other influential early eighteenth century British magazines included The Tatler and The Spectator.

In the nineteenth century magazines became more prolific, the cheapness of paper made them available to a wider readership and topics broadened to include material of general interest. Fiction, in the form of short stories and serialised novels, also became established in standard magazine content.

While it seemed for a while that the advent of television in the twentieth century posed a threat to the survival of the magazine industry, the magazine-reading habit had by then become so firmly entrenched that the industry continued to flourish.  

New Zealand Magazine was this country’s first journal. Published in 1850, its purpose was to “aid the progress of the new colony” (Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, 1966). New Zealand today has a large magazine industry, with publications ranging from those with mass market appeal to those with a very specialised target market. The popularity of different types of magazine waxes and wanes according to current interests. For example, gardening magazines are now big sellers and in 2007 NZ Gardener won Best Editor and the coveted Supreme Award - Magazine of the Year at the 2007 New Zealand Magazine Publishing Awards. In keeping with global trends, magazines generally also have a web presence, with some appearing only online.

Comprehensive information on the range of New Zealand magazines can be found at the sites New Zealand Magazine Shop  and New Zealand Ezines and Journals

 References
Goode, L and N Zuberi. eds. (2004). Society in Print, Brenda Allen, in Media Studies in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Pearson Longman, Albany, NZ.
Lynch, J. (2002). New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, 70 years: From Pavlovas to Prime Ministers. Random House, NZ.
Perry, N. (1994). The Dominion of Signs: Television, advertising and other New Zealand fictions. Auckland University Press.
An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, 1966. http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/L/LiteratureLiteraryPeriodicalsAndCriticism/Periodicals/en