Johnson Publishing Company Takes a Hit During These Difficult Economic Times

From Eurweb.com:

WILLIAM REED: Will Black America Allow Ebony and Jet to Go Out of Business?
(February 26, 2009)

*A Black American icon, the Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) is struggling to survive in the modern media landscape. Editorial reorganizations are occurring at Ebony and JET magazines.

The question is: Will the changes have any impact among African Americans and their modern-day mindsets?

Sacred cow as it is among aging African Americans, JPC’s flagship Ebony Magazine’s circulation numbers are anemic and advertising revenue has fallen.

The Company’s Chair and CEO says that “I am deeply committed to maintaining our presence and long-standing legacy in the African-American community”. Linda Johnson Rice says the changes are to ensure the 67-year-old company’s “long-term success” in the tumultuous publishing industry.

Read more »

Media Alert

On Newsstands December 12th, Alternating Covers of the Obamas:


On Newsstands December 9th:

(I like this cover far more than the Essence cover. It looks almost timeless…historical. Ebony, whatever your criticism of the inside of the magazine, has consistently presented the Black community looking its best)

Media Alert

‘60 Minutes’ Books First Post-Election Interview of Obama
By Bill Carter

“60 Minutes” has landed the first post-election interview of President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, for this coming Sunday.

CBS News announced Thursday that the Obamas would sit down Friday in Chicago to speak with the “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft. The interview is expected to fill more than one segment on the broadcast. It may fill the entire hour.

Mr. Kroft last week interviewed Mr. Obama’s senior staff about the planning of his campaign. The program attracted more than 18 million viewers, the most of any show in television last week.

In August, Mr. Kroft and “60 Minutes” also presented the first joint interview with Mr. Obama and his running mate, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The Obamas are also on pretty much every 'life' magazine/tabloid this upcoming week: People, US, Life & Style, OK, Star.

The Obamas gave their first post-election interview to EBONY.

The following is from Ebony's announcement of its coup of its interview yesterday:

The exclusive interview and cover shoot, held at the headquarters of Johnson Publishing Co. in Chicago, will be the centerpiece of Ebony magazine's January 2009 commemorative issue, which goes on sale nationwide Tuesday, December 9.

President-elect Obama spoke to Ebony magazine editorial director Bryan Monroe on a wide range of issues, including his historic election and international reaction, the future of America and how he hopes to tap the enthusiasm of the millions of supporters who have been mobilized by his election.

"I'm very humbled by the fact that I stand on the shoulders of all the people who made these incredible contributions to lift this country up," Obama told Ebony on Thursday.

Do I Need A Reason?......LOL

Just Cause......LOL

Obama on Cover of Ebony- In Our Lifetime

Barack Obama is on the cover of the March 2008 Issue of Ebony.

The title on the cover is:

IN OUR LIFETIME
- Are we really witnessing the election of the nation's First Black President?

It's not a bad article, and the one thing I appreciate is that they list a number of Obama's ' Black Circle' (take that Andrew Young).

UPDATE:

IN OUR LIFETIME.

I thought a some more about that headline.

In.Our.Lifetime.

Three simple words that convey so much in them.

I've written elsewhere that, as this campaign has gone on, I've been collecting stories and especially pictures. The ones that bring me to tears sometimes, are the ones of our elders and the ones of our youth.

I wondered elsewhere, just who was this vote for Obama FOR? Is this vote for him for US? Or is it for our past and our future? For those who have lived and seen things we never did, and for those yet to come. I came to the conclusion that Barack Obama is for my 80 year-old mother and my not-yet-born great-niece.

Both my parents were closing in on 50 when I was born (46 &48). The world of their childhoods and early adulthoods had changed dramatically, and the world I was born into wasn't theirs. My parents were born in the Jim Crow South: Mama- Mississippi, Daddy -Tennessee.

If my father hadn't of come North, he would have been 43 years old before he would have experienced freely ' full citizenship' in this country, and that was AFTER he had put his life on the line for his country.

In Our Lifetime.

I think about my parents and what they experienced, and how they fought so that I wouldn't have to experience it. How so clearly, they see Obama as what they fought FOR, as well as a gift to those yet to come.

I think about my great-niece, soon to join the family in May. Half African-American, Half Mexican-American, she will enter into a world not remotely like the one of her great-grandmother. She will grow up in a world where the blending of America is her life, and will think nothing of it. She will literally BE the ' diversity' that is bandied about so frequently. Most of all, it's possible, she will sit, in that 8th grade history class, years from now, bored out of her mind, as the teacher drones on about President Obama. But, more importantly, sitting in that class, bored with her, will be other Black, White, Hispanic, Asian boys and girls.

In.Our.Lifetime.