Quiz question: Which of the 10 biggest women`s magazines has run the most articles on abortion over the past 20 years?
McCall`s? Mademoiselle? Glamour? Ladies` Home Journal? Cosmopolitan?
Self? Vogue?
Ruth Whitney, the Red Auerbach of women`s magazine editors, knows and isn`t surprised, since ”we`ve taken a pro-choice position since the 1960s.”
Whitney is editor of Glamour, which has run about 40 articles on abortion since 1972, according to one survey. That places it atop the pack
(Mademoiselle was second with about 30, Ladies` Home Journal 10th with fewer than five). She has been editor since 1968-remarkable longevity akin to that of Auerbach, a legendary Boston Celtics coach-turned-executive who has endured decades of different owners and minions, but remains his
organization`s soul.
The adroit, 60-ish survivor of three publishers came through Chicago on a hot streak fueled by stellar abortion stories in her 2.2-million circulation, mostly beauty and fashion monthly last year. The magazine has gained three major awards, including a National Magazine Award (her industry`s Oscar) and second place last week in the John Bartlow Martin public interest competition sponsored by Northwestern University`s Medill School of Journalism.
The women`s field these days offers some of the finest magazine work. Even those with stodgy images, such as Family Circle, are now far different than many may assume. Glamour`s 1991 abortion efforts were typically tough and, relative to many magazines, nervy.
The best articles were two by Le Anne Schreiber, a former New York Times editor, about the effect of teenage notification laws on already strained families and about the increasing paucity of doctors who perform abortions. The latter ran in September and noted how 83 percent of 3,135 counties in the U.S. don`t have any abortion services, and was way ahead of other media efforts, including a Time piece last week on the same topic.
Many women`s magazines have been nervous about abortion articles of any sort, and even more skittish about running abortion-related ads, according to three people who`ve pitched them story ideas and with whom I spoke: Chung Seto, former communications director at the National Women`s Political Caucus and now with Communications Consortium, a Washington consultancy; Doug Gould, former communications chief of Planned Parenthood; and Tamar Abrams, former publicist at the National Abortion Rights Action League and a consultant to Planned Parenthood.
But they see changes at play, with Glamour continuing to be perhaps the most intrepid of the mainstream women`s publications. (Seto says that three predominantly black magazines, Ebony, Jet and Essence, have run far more abortion-related stories than white-oriented publications.)
Whitney doesn`t find her tackling of abortion especially notable and recalls no advertiser pressure. ”The bulk of our readership is pro-choice,” she said last week, alluding to a mostly college-educated audience in its 20s and 30s.
”Our readership is better educated than those of Ladies` Home Journal or McCall`s. It`s probably riskier for them than for me.”
Yet, Whitney and Glamour colleagues refer to an ”old Glamour” of not long ago, one less sophisticated and given to an occasionally patronizing tone. ”The voice of Glamour is now profoundly pro-woman,” Whitney said.
Events suggest that it must be. Her reader mail underscores that women
”are really angry.”
”Anita Hill shredded something. She symbolized a woman who, whether you believed her or not, was isolated by a group of men. It was one thing to know there were just two women in the U.S. Senate, another to see it.”
Peter Karl now has something in common with CBS sportscaster Pat Summerall and NBC weatherwag Willard Scott: socket wrenches.
Karl, 46, was the longtime, multiple award-winning TV investigative reporter who began at stations in Flint, Mich., and Detroit, then spent five years at Chicago`s WLS-Ch. 7 and 10 years at WMAQ-Ch. 5 before saying enough with TV news. He quit last summer to try life as an independent commercial producer.
Like most small-business men, he has found the early days trying at his five-person Elmhurst firm, especially given the big startup loans he took. However, some early work for True Value Hardware, the Chicago-based hardware cooperative, has evolved into a big opportunity: an agreement to produce all of True Value`s national TV and radio ads. They were previously done by Rockford, Green Bay and Indianapolis firms.
Media buyers got a look last week at his True Value efforts, which for the first time include company spokesmen Summerall and Scott in the same spots, along with a more family feel.
”This is a great opportunity for us to get our little company (Karl Productions) going and give us staying power,” Karl says.
As for professional regrets, he concedes that there were moments during coverage of Chicago`s underground flood when he had flashbacks of his prior life. ”But I`ve been so busy, there really hasn`t been time to dwell on the change. I`m content with the decision.”
”U.S. Merger Activity Still in a Slump”-Chicago Tribune, April 1.
”Mergers Up 60% in 1st Quarter”-Tribune, April 22.
One can love Cubs announcer Harry Caray but still wonder about those occasional eruptions from the deep left-field recesses of his mind.
In the middle of a Cubs-Atlanta Braves game last week, he wondered,
”What did we do with the second half of `Geraldo` today?”
Huh? The game was a ”businessman`s special” in Atlanta, starting at 11:30 a.m. Chicago time, meaning that something presumably happened with
”Geraldo” on Cubs flagship WGN-Ch. 9 since the show airs from 11 a.m. to noon. In fact, Rivera ran an hour early that morning, lest we be forced to endure the day without his cultural insights.
Robert Stempel, chairman and chief executive of General Motors Corp., picked a curious venue to give his first formal comments since the GM board of directors dramatically reorganized top management and put him on notice that performance had better improve: last week`s annual meeting in Chicago of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
The 1,200-member society was formed in 1964, comprises mostly newspaper folks and strives to upgrade the independence and quality of financial reporting. Stempel`s appearance proved a bit ironic since society members indicated in a survey taken during their meeting that auto dealers, in concert with newspaper advertising departments, are leading offenders in undermining the integrity of business journalism.
More than 80 percent of respondents cited advertiser pressure as a growing problem in the survey by the group headed by Randall Smith, assistant managing editor for business at the Kansas City Star, and Jim Kennedy, business editor at The Associated Press.
Nearly half the respondents cited examples of coverage compromised by advertisers, with one member writing, ”We no longer cover the auto industry like we should, especially consumer issues, because of dealer pressure.”
The survey prompted the group to urge the following: a clear delineation between advertising and editorial content; that material produced by editorial staffs be used only in sections controlled by editorial departments; that ad sections be different from news sections in typeface, layout and design; and that promising a story in exchange for advertising be barred.
The group can be contacted via Smith at 816-234-4884 or Kennedy at 212-621-1681. The secretary is Bill Barnhart, the Tribune`s associate financial editor, who`s at 312-222-3599.
Reporters at Los Angeles City Hall were antsy Thursday, awaiting a press conference to follow a private meeting among Mayor Tom Bradley, Police Chief Daryl Gates, California Gov. Pete Wilson and Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block.
Spokesmen kept putting off the conference as the session continued. Then, local TV reporter Linda Breakstone checked on matters and reported back to the assembled and her audience what she`d learned.
”They`re spending `quality time` together,” she deadpanned.
