George (magazine)

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George
George (magazine).jpg
First issue
CategoriesPolitics magazine
FrequencyMonthly
First issueSeptember 1995
Final issueJanuary 2001
Company Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
CountryUnited States
Based inNew York City
Language English
ISSN 1084-662X

George was a monthly magazine centered on the theme of politics-as-lifestyle founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. and Michael J. Berman with publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in New York City in September 1995. Its tagline was "Not Just Politics As Usual." It was published from 1995 to 2001.

Contents

Overview

For the debut issue, creative director Matt Berman (no relation to co-founder Michael Berman) conceived a cover which received a great deal of attention for its image of Cindy Crawford dressed as George Washington photographed by Herb Ritts.

George departed from the format of traditional political publications, whose audience primarily comprised people in or around the political world. The general template for George was similar to magazines such as Rolling Stone , Esquire or Vanity Fair . The consistent underlying theme was to marry the themes of celebrity and media with the subject of politics in such a way that the general public would find political news and discourse about politics more interesting to read.

Notable contributors

Reception

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Washington Journal interview with George executive editor Elizabeth Mitchell, August 18, 1997, C-SPAN
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Washington Journal discussion of the George media issue with George editor Gary Ginsberg, Matt Drudge, and Hanna Rosin, April 25, 1998, C-SPAN

When it first appeared, George attracted great interest, and for a brief period had the largest circulation of any political magazine in the nation, partly due to the celebrity status of Kennedy, but it soon began losing money. Kennedy and George occasionally courted controversy to boost sales, one notable example being the 1997 issue wherein Kennedy in his editorial lambasted his cousins Michael Kennedy and Joe Kennedy II, whose marital scandals had recently made news, as "poster boys for bad behavior." [2]

Kennedy later complained that the magazine was not taken seriously in the publishing world.

Critics called George "the political magazine for people who don't understand politics," assailing it for "stripping any and all discussion of political issues from its coverage of politics."[ citation needed ] In a feature in its final issue, Spy magazine asserted that the magazine's premise was flawed because, "Politics overlapped with Pop Culture in such a limited number of ways". [3] That fairly critical profile in Spy described George as "scrambling for celebrities 'with tits' as often as possible to put on the cover and then trying to figure out what that person had to do with politics".

Decline

After Kennedy died in a plane crash in 1999, Hachette Filipacchi Magazines purchased Kennedy's portion of the magazine from his estate and continued for over a year, with Frank Lalli as editor-in-chief. [4] With falling advertising sales, [4] the magazine ceased publication in 2001, two years after Kennedy's death. [5]

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Tenth anniversary discussion at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, C-SPAN

In 2005, Harvard Kennedy School held a panel discussion titled "Not Just Politics as Usual," which commemorated the 10th anniversary of the magazine's launch. The panel was moderated by Tom Brokaw and featured appearances by other journalists. [6]

Increased popularity

A February 1997 edition of George with the tagline "Survival Guide to the Future", wherein Kennedy interviews Bill Gates, has become well sought-after by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, with one copy online being listed at $3,499.99. [7]

Related Research Articles

Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc., originally known as CBS Publications, was a subsidiary of Hachette Filipacchi Médias, and was based in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John F. Kennedy Jr.</span> American publisher, son of President JFK (1960–1999)

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American attorney, journalist, and magazine publisher. He was a son of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and a younger brother of U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. On his third birthday, three days after his father was assassinated, he rendered a final salute during the funeral procession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael LeMoyne Kennedy</span> Son of Robert F. Kennedy

Michael LeMoyne Kennedy was an American lawyer, businessman, and activist in Massachusetts. He was the sixth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy. Kennedy also served as the manager of the non-profit organization Citizens Energy. He died in Aspen, Colorado, in 1997 after inadvertently skiing into a tree.

Spy was a satirical monthly magazine published from 1986 to 1998. Based in New York City, the magazine was founded by Kurt Andersen and E. Graydon Carter, who served as its first editors, and Thomas L. Phillips Jr., its first publisher. Spy specialized in irreverent and satirical pieces targeting the American media and entertainment industries and mocking high society.

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Hollyoaks is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera Brookside. From 2005 to 2023, episodes have aired on sister channel E4 a day prior to their broadcast on Channel 4. In 2023, Hollyoaks was removed from Channel 4's early evening schedule, but remains on E4 and Channel 4's on demand service with episodes now uploaded to YouTube. The first on- screen death was Natasha Andersen who was played by Shebah Ronay At its inception, the soap was targeted towards an adolescent and young adult audience but it has since broadened its appeal to all age groups. Hollyoaks has covered various taboo subjects rarely seen on British television, for which it has received numerous awards. It has won the award for Best British Soap twice, in 2014 and 2019; its first win broke the 15-year tie between rival soap operas EastEnders and Coronation Street. Beginning with a cast of 15 characters, it now has upwards of 50 regular cast members. The longest-serving actor is Nick Pickard, who has portrayed Tony Hutchinson since the first episode.

Elle Girl was the largest older-teen fashion and beauty magazine brand in the world with twelve editions. Launched in August 2001, it was the younger sister version of Elle magazine, and similarly focused on beauty, health, entertainment and trendsetting bold fashion—its slogan: "Dare to be different". The magazine was published monthly and was based in New York City.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">QAnon</span> American conspiracy theory and political movement

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Pickard</span> English actor (born 1975)

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Michael J. Berman is an American businessman, responsible for founding George magazine with John F. Kennedy Jr. in 1995. Due to Kennedy's fame, it was the largest magazine launch that year. At the time of the launch, Berman owned a New York public relations firm.

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John C. Metzler was the superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia from 1951 to 1972. Previously, he was a sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Eric J. Etheridge is an American journalist and photographer who was the initial editor, in 1995, of George, the magazine co-founded by John F. Kennedy, Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jorgie Porter</span> English actress, model (b. 1987)

Jorgina Alexandra Porter is an English actress and model. She is known for portraying the role of Theresa McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks from 2008 until 2016 and again from 2020.

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The Great Storm (<i>Home and Away</i>)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Schlossberg</span> Grandson of John F. Kennedy (born 1993)

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Elizabeth M. Crokin is an American columnist and conspiracy theorist. Since 2017, she has been an outspoken supporter of QAnon conspiracy theories.

Lisa DePaulo is an American journalist, feature magazine writer, correspondent and editor whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, George, Elle, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, GQ, Harper's Bazaar and Philadelphia magazine, among others.

References

  1. DePaulo, Lisa (April 9, 2019). "John F. Kennedy Jr. and George Magazine: A Story of Politics, Love and Loss, 20 Years Later". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  2. "By George, JFK Jr. Bares A Lot." CNN AllPolitics. August 11, 1997. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  3. "Poster Boy for Poster-Boy Behavior". Spy. March 1998. pp. 30–38. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Bercovici, Jeff. "Hachette delivers death ax to George". Media Life Magazine . Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  5. "Reliable Sources: 'George' Folds". CNN Transcripts. January 6, 2001. Archived from the original on April 18, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  6. Gavel, Doug (October 13, 2005). "'Not just politics as usual' Kennedy School pays tribute to JFK Jr., George". The Harvard Gazette .
  7. Merlan, Anna (February 4, 2022). "A Magazine From 1997 Is Selling For Thousands of Dollars Online Because of QAnon". Vice News. Retrieved February 6, 2022.