Pale shadow of LIFE snuffed out

Time Inc. has announced that the venerable title LIFE will cease publication -- again -- effective April 20. There are many who have felt that the magazine, which had a glorious history as the pre-eminent picture magazine, had been suffering sort of a living death as a stripped-down newspaper supplement.

Now, the name and image will only appear online as a photography portal and in certain branded books and collections. The only good news? That LIFE's enormous archive of 10 million images will be available online, free for private use.
LIFE was re-launched as a newspaper supplement in 2004 and is carried in 103 newspapers with a total circulation of 13 million, the company said.

"While consumers responded enthusiastically to LIFE, with the decline in the newspaper business, and the outlook for advertising growth in the newspaper supplement category, the response was not strong enough to warrant further investment in LIFE as a weekly newspaper supplement," Time Inc. said in a statement.

LIFE, launched in 1936, was a weekly until 1972 when it went on hiatus and then re-appeared as a monthly, which also folded but then was revived as a supplement. The magazine had not been doing well financially, down 9.2% in advertising revenue and 21.3% in ad pages through February, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

"LIFE magazine was a truly innovative publishing venture. It was developed, edited and published by some of the best talent in the business and we can remain proud of its many achievements. But sometimes we have to make tough calls, and this was one," said Time Inc. Chairman, CEO Ann Moore in a statement. "Growth requires taking risks and the potential upside was huge, but unfortunately the timing worked against us. The market has moved dramatically since October 2004 and it is no longer appropriate to continue publication of LIFE as a newspaper supplement. However, Time Inc. remains committed to the LIFE brand, and we will now be concentrating on migrating this iconic brand in many innovative ways on multiple digital platforms."

The company said LIFE "will continue with its plan to launch a major portal to put its entire collection of 10 million images online. The most important collection of imagery covering the events and the people of the 20th century will be made available to the public for personal use at no cost. More than 97% of this collection has never been seen by the public and contains the works of such master photographers as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White and Gordon Parks, among others. LIFE's online site, to be launched later this year, will become the preeminent destination to view the most important photography of our time, both archival and contemporary."