Two well-known editors and poets named in Concordia sexual misconduct controversy

Two well-known literary writers from Montreal -- poetry mostly -- have been swept up  and named in the sexual misconduct allegations now swirling around Concordia University. Both Dave McGimpsey -- until recently a contributing editor to the litmag Joyland -- and Jon Paul Fiorentino -- also a contributor to Joyland and at one time editor-in-chief of Matrix have apparently been relieved of their part-time teaching gigs, at least while Concordia conducts a wide-ranging investigation. 

McGimpsey (left) and Fiorentino

Joyland responded to reports that the two were under investigation by saying it would remove Fiorentino's work from the magazine's archive, according to a story on CBC.ca.

In January, writer Mike Spry published an essay describing a toxic atmosphere within the [creative writing] program. Spry has undergraduate and graduate degrees in English literature and creative writing from Concordia. In his essay, Spry described widespread sexual misconduct without naming individuals. His essay was shared widely, and within days, Concordia's administration took several measures in response. It promised to launch a third-party investigation.

Mag world view: New EIC at Fast Company; Ebony settles; Still scholarly after 10 years; Marie Claire UK sold

• Stephanie Mehta Tapped As EIC at Fast Company (Media Post)
• Ebony Reaches Settlement With National Writers Union Over Unpaid Wages (Folio:)
• Conde Nast Kicks Off Influencer Platform, Ups Ad Targeting And Engagement (Media Post)
• The Scholarly Kitchen — The Last Ten Years, The Next Ten Years (The Scholarly Kitchen)
• Marie Claire publisher Time Inc UK sold to private equity group (Guardian)
• US digital publisher Little Things first major casualty of 'catastrophic' Facebook News Feed changes (Press Gazette)
• Facebook’s support for local news subscriptions is one move in the larger dance between publishers and platforms (Nieman Journalism Lab)
• EnsembleIQ Names New CEO (Folio:)

Avenue Calgary tucks into the city's best restaurants

Avenue Calgary magazine is marking 15 years of celebrating the best restaurants in Calgary and environs. The Best Restaurants Issue is on newsstands.

"In the 15 years that Avenue has been publishing a Best Restaurants list, the dining scene in the city has grown tremendously in terms of quality, diversity and creativity. This issue celebrates the excellent work that the city's chefs and restaurateurs do every day and applauds their ongoing commitment to maintaining Calgary's status as a world-class food city," says Jennifer Hamilton, executive editor of Avenue.

Read more »

Friday is the deadline for CSME Editors' Choice Awards entries

There are only a few days for entries into the Editors' Choice Awards, presented by The Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME). Submitting is free with a CSME membership, and each submission enters you into as many as seven categories: the Small (under 50,000), Medium (50,000 to 99,999) and Large (100,000+) circulation categories, as well as the trade and custom magazine categories, each winner of which earns the right to use the Editors’ Choice Award logo on the magazine's cover for a year. There are also awards for best tablet, best website editorial, best front of book, the Jim Cormier Award for display writing, best art integration and the coveted editor of the year.

Garden Making to cease print publication, effective with spring issue

Unhappy news from publisher Michael Fox that the "difficult decision" has been made that the new spring issue of Garden Making magazine will be the last print edition.

"I’ve needed to conclude that the marketplace is not robust enough to provide sufficient revenue from readers and advertisers to continue to produce a magazine of the quality and scope that we’ve provided since 2010," said Fox in a note to advertisers and supporters. "We commission and pay for experienced writers and photographers, as well as quality printing. In fact, we have spent more than $1 million on gardening content in 33 issues (including our container gardening special). From 2010 to 2016 we published quarterly issues before reducing to three issues in 2017 and this final issue in 2018. But the revenues we’ve received do not cover all the expenses. Until now, I’ve personally plugged the gap, and cannot continue to do so."

The Garden Solutions issue begins to mail to subscribers this week and will be on sale in stores from March to June as well as online at shop.gardenmaking.com  Print copies  will be for sale at the TBG booth at Canada Blooms and at garden centres that order them.

Michael and Beckie "my business partner, wife and favourite editor" started the magazine from their home in Niagara-on-the-Lake in March 2010, following Michael's retirement from a long and distinguished senior management career at Rogers Publishing. 

Related posts

• Garden Making reducing frequency to 2 issues a year 
• Garden Making mag wins honours
• Michael Fox to receive 2015 Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement
• Garden Making magazine goes all to pots with new container gardening app
• Michael Fox, acknowleged industry postal expert, retiring from Rogers Publishing
• New quarterly Garden Making magazine to launch in March 2010

Mag world view: Smithsonian redesigns; Grazia editor steps down; Damning Newsweek note; Real "I dos"; Atlantic bulks up

• Smithsonian Redesigns, Dedicates March Covers To Norman Rockwell (MediaPost)
• Print Is Still Big Business in Magazine Media (Folio: magazine)
• Seven In Eight Ad-Blocking Millennials Really Are Digital Shoplifters (Media Daily News)
• EnsembleIQ Names New CEO (Folio:)
• Navigating a Treacherous Landscape, The Atlantic Announces Major Expansions (Publishing Insider)
• Grazia editor Natasha Pearlman steps down after three years, confirms publisher Bauer Media (Press Gazette)
• Newsweek Points Fingers at Its Parent Company in Damning Editors’ Note (Folio:)
• Brides Making The “I Do’s” More Real & The Magazine More Human  (Mr. Magazine)
• Jeremy Corbyn warns press 'change is coming' in video responding to claims he met communist spy during Cold War (Press Gazette)

Ex-Toronto mayor causes gun magazine to be pulled from Shoppers newsstands

Following the Florida school mass shooting, former Toronto mayor David Miller complained to Shoppers Drug Mart about a gun lifestyle magazine offered on its newsstands (one of the most important single-copy outlets in Canada). His tweet, as reported by the Toronto Star:

“Really @ShopprsDrugMart , promoting semi-automatic weapons at our local shop? How about you stop.” Miller tweeted about Recoil magazine.

Three days later, the title was pulled from the racks and Shoppers tweeted back:

“Hello David, thanks for sharing your concerns," the company said. "After hearing about this, we've decided to remove this issue from our stores. We are working on pulling all copies in circulation and will not receive any further shipments of this publication."

Horse Canada magazine unveils an updated logo

Horse Canada magazine, published by the Horse Media Group, has unveiled a new masthead, its first redesign since 2001. The new design was done by Bonnie Summerfeldt. 

The mandate was that It needed to be easily read at a distance, attractive to adults and children, and also show it's authority as a trusted source of equine health info.

Major restructuring done at Vanity Fair magazine, with departure of 15 editors

Conde Nast has let go 15 editors from Vanity Fair magazine, plus three other staff from Glamour. Departing from the print side of Vanity Fair were editor-at-large Cullen Murphy, managing editor Chris Garrett, deputy editors Aimee Bell and Dana Brown, features editor Jane Sarkin, associate managing editor Ellen Kiell, senior photography producer Kathryn MacLeod and public relations head Beth Kseniak. 

The changes were part of a scramble to cultivate a sustainable digital brand, reported  Publishers Daily. 

New digital literary magazine TOK to be launched in April

A new digital magazine -- TOK -- is to launch officially in April. It's an outgrowth of Disapora Dialogues, which has a long record promoting emerging writers, playwrights and artists. 

The magazine project will rely at first on fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and drama created under the auspices of the Diaspora Dialogues mentoring programs.  The new venture is being led by Helen Walsh, until recently the publisher and president of the Literary Review of Canada, and the founding director of Spur, a national festival of politics, art and ideas.

"We see TOK as the logical extension of the work we’ve done over the past decade and a half. In a world whose reading habits have changed, the publishing landscape irrevocably altered, we’ve designed TOK to be a fluid, responsive network. A way to showcase and support writers across backgrounds and styles. And we’re committed to collaborating with partners across literary, artistic and community realms, to do our bit in fostering a non-zero-sum culture."

MagNet conference registration now open

Registration is now open for MagNet 2018, the national industry conference April 25 and 26th at The Courtyard Toronto Downtown, 475 Yonge St, Toronto.

A complete program is live now at 
http://magnet.magazinescanada.ca/schedule/. 

Information about pricing: http://magnet.magazinescanada.ca/pricing/

New this year are "global intensives" with FIPP President James Hewes, what makes the BBC's Good Food brand so successful across platforms from publishing director Chris Kerwin, and MPA's President Linda Thomas Brooks talking about what makes magazines the most powerful medium for advertisers.

Especially for arts, literary and cultural magazines is the Arts & Literary Magazines Summit, a full-day deep dive into the inner workings of cultural magazine publishing from coast-to-coast. 

Magazines Canada is offering rebates for MagNet expenses to members in good standing that have annual circulation under 25,000, covering over 50% of travel costs and 50% of session fees. Bursaries are limited, so visit magazinescanada.ca/program/skills-rebates to apply now!

Mag world view: Map to success; re-re--relaunched Trump mag; Hearst layoffs; Building a symbol

• The Roadmap To Magazine Success: Wired Magazine’s Editor In Chief, Nick Thompson (Mr. Magazine)
• Following Up With Pop-Up Magazine, From the Other Side of the Curtain (Folio:)
• The re-re-re-re-relaunched Trump magazine – available on no good news stands (Guardian)
• Vogue (UK) criticised for unpaid internships (Guardian)
• Layoffs Continue at Hearst Magazines After Rodale Acquisition (Folio:)
• Designing a Lasting Symbol (The Scholarly Kitchen)
• Entertainment Magazines Lead the Pack in Readership Study (Folio:)

Finalists for magazine achievement announced by AMPA

The Alberta Magazine Publishers Association (AMPA) has announced the achievement award finalists for 2018. These awards recognize vision and  innovation demonstrated by individuals. 

• Achievement in Publishing -- Joyce Byrne, group publisher for RedPoint Media & Marketing Solutions
• Editor of the Year -- Jaelyn Molyneux, executive editor of digital content for Avenue Calgary.
• Volunteer of the Year -- Allan Lacey, the treasurer of AMPA
• Best New Magazine -- League, the publication of the League of Landscape Photographers

Finalists for Magazine of the year are:

• Avenue Edmonton
• Eighteen Bridges
• New Trail

Finalists and winners will be celebrated at the 2018 Alberta Magazine Awards Gala on Thursday, March 8 at the Carriage House Inn in Calgary. 

Maclean's covers provocatively highlight the pay gap between men and women

If the mark of excellent editing is to involve readers, then the current newsstand issue of Maclean's achieves both. The magazine has two different gender-specific covers intended to provoke conversation about the roughly 26% pay gap between men and women. One cover price is $8.81 for men; the other $6.99 for women. Readers can pay whatever cover price they want 

"After years of stasis, pay equity is having its moment as the next beat in the cadence of the #MeToo movement. Our hope is that these dual covers stir the kind of urgent conversation here that is already happening elsewhere around the world."

The initiative is a real credit to the editors and the art directors and we look forward to the reader response. 

Leadership of Newsweek shown the door

Wow. Just wow. 

The top 2 editors at Newsweek and two senior writers have been fired, according to BuzzFeed's Craig Silverman. 

Bob Roe, the editor in chief, and Kenneth Li, the executive editor, were both let go today, along with senior politics writer Celeste Katz and senior writer Josh Saul. 

Sources also tell BuzzFeed News that staff in the magazine's New York office are withholding work until they get more information from company executives. 

This follows a recent raid in the New York offices of parent company Newsweek Media Group by the Manhattan District Attorney; BuzzFeed News revealing that a top editor, Dayan Candappa, was fired from a previous job over sexual harassment allegations; and that sister publication the International Business Times has been engaging in ad fraud.

Finalists named for AMPA showcase awards.

The finalists for the Alberta Magazine Awards 2018 showcase have been released. The event is to be held March 8 at the Carriage House Inn in Calgary where the ultimate winners in 20 categories will be announced. 

Finalists for Magazine of the Year, Best New Magazine and the recipients of Achievement in Publishing, Editor of the Year and Volunteer of the Year will be announced Thursday, February 8.

Quote, unquote: Advertising will decline 30% in next 5 years

“We are so disrespecting people’s time that they are spending more and more time in advertising-free environments.... We don’t value their time. You’re asking me to give you my time for less than minimum wages, which is not worth my time.” 

--  Publicis Groupe’s Rishad Tobaccowala predicts that  the amount of advertising reaching consumers over the next 5 years may decline 30%. [He spoke during the opening session of CIMM’s Cross-Platform Media Measurement & Data Summit in New York City Thursday afternoon.] From Media Daily News

Mag world view: Back to a letters section; Alphabet's bilions; 'what makes a community?; Readers are not lists

• The Atlantic is killing its comments in favor of a new Letters section to showcase reader feedback (Nieman Journalism Lab)
• HK$500 million sale of Next Digital magazine business collapses (South China Morning Post)
• Google parent company Alphabet passed £100bn in revenue last year (Press Gazette)
• Bloomberg Media Hires Its First Chief Product Officer (Folio:)
• Pivot to Digital: How Two Legacy Publishers Are Embracing Their Futures (Folio:)
• New Scientist appoints Guardian journalist Emily Wilson as first ever female editor (Press Gazette)
• What Makes a Community? (BuzzMachine)
• Buzzfeed founder Jonah Peretti says Facebook should pay for content on News Feed (Press Gazette)
• "I Like To Feel That Our Readers Aren’t A Mailing List, That They Are An Actual Community." -- William R.Hearst III to Samir Husni (Mr. Magazine)
• Crossref: How Stakeholders Across the Publishing Industry Collaborate (The Scholarly Kitchen)
• How AI is changing advertising (Media Update)