History of Magazines in Kenya

narrative OF MAGAZINES IN KENYA mags be a form of print media that argon printed periodic eithery for a specific radical of plenty with a common interest. Magazine publishing started way back in the 1660s with Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (Edifying Monthly Discussions) creation the first clip to be published in Germany and in the world as a whole. This was in the year 1663. However, the next magazine publisher that followed was much different than the first. The Gentlemans Magazine published in1731 in England include more take parttainment in form of essays, stories, poems and political commentary.Magazines whence looked similar books, printed in dingy and white. They were merely a channel where lit durationte men passed on their points in the above mentioned forms of entertainment. In 1739, The economical Magazine was published and is still published up to date though as a perfunctory business newspaper. In the year 1741, the first magazine in America was published and named American Magazine just three days before Benjamin Franklins General Magazine was published. Several magazines were then established until in 1933 when the first mens magazine, Esquire was published.This was the beginning of special-interest magazines. Further on into the 1950s to 1970s, magazines were comprehensive of models gracing their covers. Magazines in Kenya started publishing way back in the 1970s. An example of a magazine published then is Joe Magazine which was founded by Hilary Ngweno, the publisher and Terry Hirst, the artist. This magazine was full of humour, used art and fictionalization to narrate cultural, political and social aspects of daily Kenya living. It target was the urban residents but after Ngweno left over(p) in 1974, Hirst tried changing it to include the rural residents as well.However, it lost market and shut atomic reactor in 1979. Ngweno however did not end his publishing c beer there. He did some other publishing works such as Weekly R eview, which nurtured important personalities such as Hanningtone Gaya. In this era of modernity, magazines are separateed into three * Consumer magazines these are sold by hacekscription and at newsstands, in bookstores and supermarkets. * Industrial, company, and sponsored magazines are produced by companies specific all in ally for their employees, customers and stockholders and by clubs and associations for their members. Trade, professional, and business magazines carry stories, features and ads aimed at people in specific professions and are all distributed by the professional organizations themselves or by media companies. (Baran) A lot of magazines have precipitate up in Kenya in this century. These are such as the first mens magazine in Kenya and east Africa known as HM (His Magazine) which is produced by Media Seven group(Kenya) Limited. This magazine basically aims for men in amid 21-40 years of age and it is all about knowledge and insights men could grasp to bette r their relationships.Media Seven Group also produces Her Magazine, Monthly Motor, Mum and Dad, Teen Life, credit line Monthly and G Magazine. Other magazines in Kenya are such as Samanthas Bridal Weddings Magazine, Passion, Pregnant, True Love, Parents (possibly the oldest magazine), The Insyder, Tupike, and Salon among others. SAMANTHAS BRIDAL WEDDINGS MAGAZINE Samanthas Bridal Weddings Magazine is a consumer magazine that is based on unites and acts as a guide for people planning their weddings. It was started in 2005 by Dr. Catherine Masitsa.The inspiration to begin Samanthas Bridal Weddings Magazine came from Going Out, a magazine that talked about interesting sites in Kenya. Dr. Catherine Masitsa saw the need for an informative magazine on weddings and all that is convoluted and therefore Samanthas Bridal Wedding Magazine. However, immediately after Going Out ended, she ventured into Business Woman, another magazine and later Samanthas Bridal. Samanthas Bridal Weddings Mag azine is the first Kenyan wedding magazine and is named so after Dr. Catherine Masitsas mother and because it is girly and has a soft touch to it.PERSONNEL People involved in production of Samanthas Bridal Magazine are editor program at large (Catherine Masitsa), sub editor (Christabel Ododa), creative director, contributors, printers, advertising gross sales executive, advertising sales coordinator, distributors, photographers, models, make-up artists and advertisers. PROCESS AND PERSONNEL ROLES This magazines production technically has four stages. Stage one is research. The editorial team comes up with a blueprint which is the rough outline of what the magazines should look like.The Blueprint has the themes, how e real page should look like, what should be included and who needs what for the magazine to come up. The editors look for material to write about in connection with the theme, enter contractual agreements with the models and photographers and search for venues to build up the magazine. The editor is also involved in copyrighting which basically involves approach shot up with the words of the theme. In the latest issue of Samanthas Bridal the theme was Dress trends, the writers thus had to look for something to write on dresses.The next stage is the design stage. In this stage is where the sub editor puts together the articles, arranges the articles and puts words in the advertisements. The work is then sent to the designer who lays out the tempo and the photos to come up with an authentic layout. After the designer has done his work its back to the editor for proof narration then to the designer again to prepare the artwork for print in PDF format in cd form to send to local printers and in transfer file protocol to send to international printers. The triplet stage is create.The printer makes digital print outs of final look of the magazine which is sent back to the smear for approval by the chief editor who has to sign every page. The digita l print outs are called proofs. formerly the proofs are approved they are sent back to the printers then final mental picture begins. This process of printing begins when artwork is electronically transformed into a film which is then checked and transformed to the printing plate. The printing plates are then mounted on the web off-set printer which transfers the artwork on paper.Color separation on the papers is done through a process of colors, CYMK. This is cyan, yellow, magenta and black. The pages are mixed with these colors to nock between pictures and words. Printing starts with the light colors first and onto the dark colors. The machine sorts the papers from the first to last, binds the magazine and trims it into the size of that particular magazine. The last stage the distribution of the magazine. Samantha Bridal Magazine uses PDS to distribute their magazine to all their advert clients and to supermarkets all over Kenya.Samanthas Bridal Magazine produces 10,000 copies each selling at 495 Kenyan shillings. TREND CHANGE * Comparing magazines today and those in the past, there is evidence of a big discrepancy embraced by the magazine industry. * There is use of more graphics and colored images to brighten and liven up the magazines. * Magazine publishers have ventured into the internet to meet the competition posed by other forms of media. * Publishers now are focused on concentrating on their defined audiences rather than the whole multitude. ETHICS Every magazine has a house expression that makes it unique and distinct.A house style is the set of standards for the writing and design of an organization. House style identifies a particular company. This is look onn in the font size, flow of articles, number of pages, size and layout of magazine. The magazine Industry is very cautious in terms of confidentiality and ethics. This is so in that, when a company wants an advertisement design do for them by the designer it has to be sent back to the c ompany for its approval. The proof is another example of caution where every page has to be signed to show approval before the printer can go ahead.When a venue for taking photos is chosen the owners of the place have to approve the use of their place as well. Apart from approval by the concerned, magazines rarely face ethical dilemmas in terms of what they write about. This is because, they do not write on real life stories apart from events that have occurred such as parties or dinners. FUNDS Advertisements are what keep a magazine running. Samanthas Bridal Weddings Magazine has a sales team whose main work is to source for people who want advertisements. The team approaches agencies like Scan group to get companies to advertise with them.A full page advert cost 185,000 and this is basically how a magazine makes money. governance BODIES AND REGULATORS Government it offers licenses to the publishing company of the magazine. For instance, Samantha bridals magazine is licensed to p roduce the magazine and air the TV show. column style book it governs how the magazine will look like. It is an organizational book that determines the layout of the magazine. THEORY APPLICATION fit to Baran, Social Cognitive Theory states that people learn through observation- and applying it to mass media.We either imitate what we see or identify with it. When women look through the magazine, others get ideas of how they would want their weddings to be (imitation) while those who are already married appreciate what they see since they know the feeling (identification). CHALLENGES According to Hanningtone Gaya, publisher of the Media Seven Group magazines, these are the challenges magazine publishers in Kenya face * Kenyan advertisers do not believe in advertising in magazines, therefore there is no advertising revenue to sustain magazine publishing. Kenyans do not like reading books or magazines, which undermines magazine circulation and subscription. * Most magazine publishers carry very shallow articles which are not well researched. * The magazines appear periodically and therefore disappointing to loyal readers, subscribers and advertisers. * The high cost of printing and miserable quality in color printing is a major disadvantage in Kenya. http//www. gvpedia. com/Kenya/Hanningtone-Gaya-Top-Magazines-Publisher. aspx REFERENCES www. amanthasbridal. co. ke Stanley Murage- Creative Director, Samanthas Bridal (0720316292) http//www. infoplease. com/ipea/A0154485. htmlixzz1bQvU4EoQ http//www. media7group. com/component/search/magazines%2Bhistory/%252F? ordering=&searchphrase=all http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Joe_%28magazine%29 http//www. gvpedia. com/Kenya/Hanningtone-Gaya-Top-Magazines-Publisher. aspx Baran S. J. , (2010), Introduction to Mass Communication. Media Literacy and Culture, sixth Ed. , McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.