POST 2: INDUSTRY

Bauer Media

Bauer Media Group founded in 1875 is a European-based media company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. It owns over 600 magazines including fashion, lifestyle and entertain magazine Grazia. Additionally, it has ownership of over 400 digital products and 50 radio and television stations globally. The media group has a workforce of around 11,000 people in 17 countries. Its CEO, Yvonne Bauer is the fifth generation in the family ownership                                                          of Bauer.

Bauer Publishing

Bauer Publishing uses a tagline: 'we think popular', this is to represent what the majority of society from media forms such as magazines, expressing that it considers its audiences values and interests. It publishes the top two selling retail magazines: Woman's World lies first and First For Women is in second place. The market it targets are women as well as an audience interested in science and technology.


One of Bauer's better known magazines is Grazia, a weekly magazine targeted at women ages 25-45 of class AB with a focus on fashion, celebrities, beauty and culture. Describing themselves as 'brave, bold, innovative', the magazine takes a different approach to mainstream magazines like Vogue by including inserts on the cover of clothing and celebrity gossip stories. As my magazine audience are of a lower age bracket of 16-25, this would not lead to competition in readership. Since Grazia has a higher focus on human interest and celebrities than my fashion magazine, the magazines will not be competition with each other, again, over readership. Now featuring a Grazia Playlist section, it has 'everything in the week's cultural drop- from podcasts and books through to  music, travel and interiors' and for its readers that prefer non-print, it has a online magazine site called Grazia Online. Grazia consistently places its masthead in the top left corner utilises the same fonts. In this particular issue, its colour palette is predominantly purple, yellow and white, this magazine constantly uses an array of images of celebrities and clothing across its front cover as well as a focal image.  




Human Being Magazine

An example of an independently produced magazine is Human Being. It is published by a Virginia-based clothing and lifestyle store Need Supply. Distributed through Bryony Lloyd, the managing director of Antenne Books, it is a lifestyle and style magazine with a primary focus on fashion and culture. As an independent magazine, its core audience is not mainstream but niche and the layout and style of the magazine does not follow its genre codes and conventions. The distribution of this magazine will be more limited than well-known magazines like Harper's Bazaar and Vogue meaning it can only be bought from larger chains like WHSmith and Sainsbury's rather than from  the local corner shop.



Though it may seem like magazines earn the majority of their revenue from their cover price, this is not the case. Most of the revenue is derived from brands promoted throughout their magazine and online media through advertisements, it is crucial that magazines at not too niche, very niche magazines target a minor amount of society so magazines to need to ensure their readership remains relatively high in order for more brands to pay to advertise in their magazine.


Advancements in technology has created social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram to like, comment, share and follow. To retain its engagement with its readers, magazines have opened up to the usage of social media and update their followers with photos and tweets as well as granting their readers the chance to share their magazine articles from their website to different social media platforms.

Regulation of Independent Magazines in the UK

In the UK, the independent regulator of magazines (and newspapers) is the Independent Press Standards organisation (IPSO). They hold 'newspapers and magazines to account for their actions, protect individual rights, uphold standards of journalism and help to maintain freedom of expression for the press'. 

The IPSO do a number of things including:

-Making certain that member newspapers and magazines follow the Editors' Code
-Investigating complaints possible breaches of the Editor's Code from printed and online material
-Forcing magazines and newspapers to publish corrections or adjudications if they breach the Editors’ Code (this include the cover page)
-Monitoring press standards and requiring member newspapers and magazines to submit an annual statement about how they follow the Editors’ Code and handle any complaints
-Investigating serious standards failings and can fine publishers up to £1 million in cases where they are particularly serious and systemic
-Operating a 24-hour anti-harassment advice line
-Training and guidance provision for journalists in order for them to uphold the highest possible standards as well as advice for journalists and editors
-Providing a Whistleblowing Hotline for journalists who feel they are being pressured to act in a way that is not in line with the Editors' Code
-Working with charities, NGOs and other organisations to support and improve press standards

From funding through the Regulatory Funding Company (RFC) which is paid for by member publications, the IPSO is entirely independent, segregating itself from its member and executing work separately.
The Editors' Code of Practice focuses on: accuracy, privacy, harassment, intrusion into grief  or shock, reporting suicide, children, children in sex cases, hospitals, reporting of crime, clandestine devices and subterfuge, victims of sexual assault, discrimination, financial journalism, confidential journalism, confidential sources, witness payments in criminal trials, payments to criminals and the Public Interest.