Niche magazines may be a small moon in the journalism galaxy, but there’s nothing small about how they celebrate the voices of people who are often silenced because of their identities.

Condé Nast, the holy grail of the magazine industry that’s responsible for titles including Vogue and Glamour, recently announced its plan to introduce a multi-platform publication called “them” that highlights the LGBTQ community. Under the creative guidance of Teen Vogue’s Phillip Picardi, them will tell the stories of queer Americans that go beyond the stereotypes that confine them.

Niche magazines often retaliate against the too-often monopolistic nature of the media, adding new voices to an industry largely controlled by huge companies like Hearst and the Associated Press. Including more perspectives in journalism allows readers to find publications that share their values and add weight and authenticity to their identity. Which is why the launch of them is so important.

Andy Mendes | Digital Design Editor

In an interview with Business of Fashion, Picardi referred to Condé Nast’s creative endeavor as a means of “pushing the culture forward” rather than being complicit with the current perceptions of the LGBTQ community.

“If I’ve learned anything from my time at Teen Vogue, it’s that young people are dominating our culture and they’re going to shape it in a way that we really weren’t expecting, particularly in matters of gender and sexuality,” Picardi told Business of Fashion. “Wouldn’t it be incredible if Condé Nast were the first publisher to really step up to the plate and want to be the ones who were telling those stories in an authentic and personal way?”

Melissa Chessher, chair of the magazine journalism department at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, reiterated Picardi’s sentiment that the personal and the political have become increasingly intertwined. In an email, Chessher said narrowing the focus of publications allows for more individuals to find validity in their identity and their political convictions.

“The fuel of magazines is change,” Chessher said. “When magazines began, people longed to be connected by these big shared ideals, goals, identities, cultural forces. But now, I think, we long to be connected by what makes us different. We are overwhelmed by the big collective, and we want to seek out and join those who belong to our tribe.”

To Chessher, the rise in digital media has allowed for this democratization of voices, making way for a more equal playing field. A corporation like Condé Nast has the means to launch a project like them “in a spectacular way,” Chessher said, but money isn’t all that in the digital age. She said digital is “the great equalizer.”

The problem at these big corporations, she added, is they typically don’t do well in “seeking out diverse talent.” The launch of them, though, is a spark of hope for that talent, she said.

And hope is a commodity in high demand these days. Amid the polarization in Washington, D.C. and the constant threats against the liberties of marginalized groups, there should be a greater incentive to ensure the voices of queer individuals, women and others with marginalized identities are heard.

Andy Mendes | Digital Design Editor

Even during a time when President Donald Trump and his supporters have declared war on the mainstream media, more people are turning to journalism to combat the political fiascos happening in the White House and across the country. It’s about time the voices that have been suppressed for so long are heard.

And the objective of niche magazines like them is to get people to listen.

Kelsey Thompson is a junior magazine journalism major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at katho101@syr.edu.

Published on November 27, 2017 at 9:46 pm