Category / 100 Words

by Magdiaries

Why am I here?

A friend of mine used to refer to music journalists as “toilet attendants of rock ‘n’ roll”.

Now that I’ve drifted into this line of work I consider myself more of a grave tender.

Rock ‘n’ roll is dead. Creative progression has ground to a halt. My job is to give the corpse a good kick every now and again to give the illusion that it’s still breathing. Fifteen-minute phoners and hopeless PRs are the norm these days.

So why am I here? I still want to be the guy that turns you on to life-changing music.

Always have. Always will.

Ed Mitchell | Editor, The Blues magazine



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

Stop calling the internet a medium

The internet isn’t a new medium, it’s a network.

Each ‘revolution’ in media since the printing press – newspapers,
radio, cinema, TV – was essentially just an evolution of a broadcast
model with one distribution point and many consumers.

The internet is completely different. It’s narrowcast, it’s personalised, it’s two-way, or any way anyone with an internet connection wants it to be.

Magazine companies still have the expertise to make content people
want, probably better content than most others can make.

But they need to shed the attitudes that came with the privilege of
having access to a printing press.

Jasper Jackson | Editor and chief analyst, TheMediaBriefing.com



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

Community magazines

Magazines come in all shapes and sizes nowadays, and in many formats. But the ones I’m still most fond of are the A5 directories, packed to the brim with local community news, beautifully shot front covers of the area and what’s on information from the local WI to fund raising news.

Because a magazine that resonates with its readers is surely what it’s all about?

We’re finding more and more that these little mags give people a real boost – it unites them with their community, makes them feel part of something and in turn builds businesses.

Love our world!

Coralie Todd | Editor, Big Voice Directories; MD, Quay Pages



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

The gateway

Magazines. Music packaging. Film Posters.

This was the holy-trinity of visual culture I would later realise hooked me in to a graphic-design-life. Magazines, and their design, spoke to me.

Maturing from teen-magaholic-collector to magazine-designer-adult has taught me what a labour of love magazines are to create. They are a unique adventure to take on – and for a designer used to sprinting they can feel like a marathon.

Simultaneously disposable and collectable, ephemeral and cherished, they take an ironic amount of time to craft, but are incredibly rewarding.

Long may the magazine age continue, entrancing the reader and enticing the designer.

Luke Tonge | Art Director, LIFE Agency



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

100 tweets to make a difference

There was a time before 140 characters you know.

‘Write me 2,500 words on this subject or that subject’ the Ed would say.

TWO AND A HALF THOUSAND? Are you crazy?

Even at a conservative estimate that would be around 100 full length tweets… all on the same subject… keeping people interested all the way to the end.

They say people need their information in tiny bytes these days but who decides that?

The shelves in the newsagent are still full of paper beauty but it is a place where gossip reigns supreme. A printed twitter.

We should stop dumbing down the world.

Paul McNally | former editor; Head of Comms, Salford Red Devils



Grub Street Journal