People Magazine

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 7:11pm on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Barack Obama ranks at the top of the hierarchy of celebrities, says Michael Wolff in the July 2009 issue of Vanity Fair magazine:

"If most of the press is failing, one part is rising: the celebrity press. Now, the central formulation of the celebrity press, codified in the early days of People magazine by its first and legendary editor, Dick Stolley, is that, in the descending preference of who makes a good cover, from movie star to television star to sports figure to sick child, the one category of celebrity you ought never to choose is politician.

Arguably, the celebrity press came into existence and has grown with such force as a reflection of America’s disenchantment with and lack of interest in politics and politicians. Civic life lost its connection to popular culture.

Until Obama. Now, in the hierarchy of celebrities, nobody ranks as high, or is as cover-worthy, as the president and his family."

The full story:
www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/07/wolff200907

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 3:59pm on Monday, November 24th, 2008

In a internal memo distributed on November 21, 2008, People magazine editor Larry Hackett ripped a New York Times story which suggested that People promised positive coverage to Angelina Jolie -- in exchange for the pportunity to buy photos of Jolie and Brad Pitt's most recent newborns, which cost People $14 million. Hackett wrote:

"The suggestion that we have ever made any promise of positive coverage, or have submitted an editorial plan, is completely false. That I or anyone else would promise, on paper or verbally, to purposely slant coverage as condition for acquiring pictures, is insulting to all of us.

"Here's what is true: Celebrities —- and senators and business executives and athletes—are always trying to bend stories their way. We deal with that pressure every single day and engage in many conversations regarding all elements of coverage. Angelina Jolie is very candid about wanting attention for her charitable efforts, and we have covered many of them because we believe they are interesting stories. But in doing so, we have never relinquished editorial control. There have been occasions when her goals and our needs could not be reconciled, and we have walked away, as we have with countless other story subjects.

"In our coverage of both celebrities and everyday people, People certainly often celebrates their accomplishments and milestones. To say that our coverage of Angelina Jolie has not been admiring would be disingenuous. But the suggestion in today's Times that this "positive" coverage is codified and promised is totally bogus, and needs to be rejected."

So, does editor Hackett really believe that people read People because of its editorial integrity? That is a conceit not even Angelina Jolie could hope to match.

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 2:46pm on Friday, November 14th, 2008

In late 2008, Time Inc. said that the People magazine web site receives 8.6 million unique visitors and some 733 million page views a month.

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 12:17am on Friday, October 10th, 2008

Paul Caine, the president of Time Inc.'s Entertainment Group, was interviewed in the October 2008 issue of Circulation Management magazine.

He said: "No one's more expensive than People (magazine) on the newsstand and no one's more expensive than People on subscription -- anywhere. We're the most expensive consumer magazine on a subscription, period."