Columbia Journalism Review has an interesting feature article, “An Icon Fades” by Don Terry, that conducts a bit of analysis on the failure of Johnson Publications to transition from print publications of their flagship Ebony and Jet magazines into a strong position on the Internet.  Mr. Terry leads into his analysis of the African American icon with a brief bit of history.

Born November 1, 1945, Ebony showed off her glamour and vitality for decades. But she is tired now, debt-ridden and seriously ill, her once crystalline voice a raspy whisper. The black celebrities who once courted her now have other media suitors, thanks in no small part to the trail Ebony blazed. Too many readers and advertisers have followed them. “An Icon Fades” by  Don Terry.

It’s interesting to watch as Ebony and Jet fade away over time; however, they are being replaced online with better and more contemporary sites that speak to those audiences under 50 years of age.  Both Ebony and Jet have had plenty of opportunity to grow their audience online, and deal with the larger audience (but smaller revenue) that would come from an online focus.  In addition, I’d say that Ebony and Jet benefited from a unique situation that few magazines have in the modern publishing era — virtually no direct competition.  Although Mr. Terry is somewhat critical of Ebony and Jet Magazines owner Johnson Publications, I don’t think that he does a strong enough job of separating the affects to general magazine publicans and the unique affects that Johnson faces as both a private and African American owned enterprise.

What were the alternatives that Johnson Publications could in act to stem the flow of red ink?

I don’t think anyone in the publishing industry has a solid answer to any non-financial newspaper or magazine out there.

The only thing that is clear is that Ebony could have had a much stronger on-line presence built-up, so it would be possible to down-size into a smaller more manageable company.  Currently, I’d say that BlackVoices.com is the closest in composition and style to the modern Ebony and Jet magazines while theRoot.com and theGrio.com are  actually better than BlackVoices.com and the modern print versions of Ebony and Jet.  EbonyJet.com is an excellent on-line site; however, it lacks the dominant position that its offline magazine could have created over the span of ten plus years.

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