Two years ago, spurred on by a groundswell of interest in all things eco-friendly, green-related content was sprouting everywhere. For magazines, that meant a flurry of green-themed issues. But the economic downturn, coupled with cooling consumer interest, have some publishers pulling the plug on those products.
Among titles holding off on green issues in ’09 are Condé Nast’s Domino, Time Inc.’s Sunset, Mariah Media’s Outside and indy Discover. Active Interest Media’s Backpacker, already seeing the concept as tired, did not produce a second global-warming issue this year. “My sense is the idea of doing a green issue has been done so much it feels anachronistic,” said Backpacker editor Jonathan Dorn.
I really wonder what the next trend will be? Hopefully something more stimulating than middle-class self congratulatory eco-nazism. But I suppose that there isn’t any alternative to “alternative” posturing:
“Undecided individuals are biased toward also taking the option that is more popular, and this choice becomes amplified.”
The unfortunate side effect of implementing consensus is that in a few of the trials, the fish tended the follow the less attractive model. The authors attribute “…submission to peers and occasional cascades of incorrect decisions…[to] a by-product of what is usually accurate consensus decision-making.”
“I go to meetings and all I hear is, ‘Oh my God, they just keep coming and coming,’ ” Judy VanSlyke Turk, president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, said of the students. She added, “I’m really not sure they understand how competitive the job market is.”
