The cultural economy of the luxury brand
Yesterday I looked at the copy content in the launch of Standpoint, the new politics/business monthly magazine edited by former Telegraph associate editor Daniel Johnson, with launch articles from a number of neocon names and Telegraph writers that did nothing to support Johnson’s claim that it is a magazine of both the Left and Right.
The launch of Standpoint and its claims to bipartisan intellectual curiosity stirrred some thoughts around the rise of the “intellectual magazine” in the recent couple of years, and what this is saying about both the magazine market and the economic and political context in which magazines operate. My view is that the recent glut of “intellectual magazine” launches–such as Prospect, Monocle, The Economist’s Intellgent Life–is a battle for territory that has less to do with intelligence and more to do with economic prosperity and worldview dominance for its owners and advertisers. Which, of course, is nothing new in the media (see this overview), and thanks to Johnson, is neither hidden nor subtle in Standpoint’s stated goal:
to defend and celebrate Western civilisation.
That is, Johnson knows that in the time of the credit crunch, it’s not the lower and middle classes who prosper but the rich. So let’s create magazines for the ‘intellectual’ where ‘intellectual = rich, and politics = capital’.
It doesn’t take a great leap of intellect to work out that the magazines that are going to do best in this time are those that support this brand chain of command. Monocle goes from strength to strength on this model, as Vanity Fair expands across Europe, In the UK, Grazia grows onwards, and The Spectator has increased its sales, according to James Robinson reporting in The Observer, by
strengthening its financial coverage and introducing articles on luxury living, which attract a new set of advertisers.
But let’s begin with Standpoint. Read more
Men’s magazines: the intellectuals
As reported by The Observer on Sunday, today sees the launch of the much anticipated Standpoint, a new monthly magazine with a relatively unambiguous editorial position.
According to its editor, former Telegraph assoicate editor Daniel Johnson, Standpoint will “defend and celebrate Western Civilisation”. In an interview with the New Culture Forum, Johnson says that “I think there is a much larger constituency for a reassertion of western values such as free speech, the dignity of the individual and the rule of law than cynics on the Left or the Right suppose.”
Left and Right
Although he pairs cynics of the Left and Right together, for The Observer Johnson rejects the idea that Standpoint will be only for the Right. This, despite the fact that anticipation has been coming from and heralded from, specifically, the Right (for example). Indeed, Johnson suggests “the world’s changed beyond recognition. The old left/right categories don’t work any more.” As The Observer comments:
That is a familiar argument that has been played out endlessly in recent years, making unlikely allies of American neo-conservatives and European liberals, and it is a discussion that will continue on the pages of Standpoint.
Inside the magazine
So what will be on the pages of Standpoint? Will it deliver politically agnostic intellectual stimulation? Will it steal readers from The Spectator or, even the dwindling leftist magazine, the New Statesman? Johnson suggests writers such as Alain de Botton and Andrew Marr show the magazine reaches out to “anybody with an ounce of intellectual curiosity”. So who and what is in the launch issue? A sample:
- Alain de Botton on faith ["intellectual cotton candy", "a philosphical pub crawl" ]
- Jung Chang and Simon Sebag Montefiore on Mao and Stalin
- new poetry by Robert Conquest [Margaret Thatcher's speechwriter]
- Andrew Marr on the Telegraph cartoonist Matt
- Tim ‘vote UKIP’ Congdon on why we shouldn’t scapegoat the bankers [really?]
- Eton educated Telegraph columnist on Prospect’s 100 top public intellectuals
- Michael Burleigh on the war on terror [Telegraph writer, dislike for all things Islamic]
- Douglas Murray on censorship [author of Neoconservatism: Why We Need It]
- Alasdair Palmer on family courts [Better Rough Justice than another 9/11]
- Emanuele Ottolenghi on how Europe has betrayed Israel [and the Palestinians?]
So, that’s settled then: a balanced world view if ever I saw one.
Final word: will it survive?
Magforum has a great overview of the ‘intellectual’ business/politics market and the likelihood of survival for any new magazines entering the market. For Standpoint, both the ‘left’ and ‘right’ are in general agreement that Standpoint is coming along at the right time–the Cameron’s Conservative renaissance–and timing, as we know, is everything.
Well, not quite everything. What’s more interesting from The Observer article, although only touched on superficially, is the political economy (and economics) of the magazine: how ownership, control and advertising are the drivers of new magazine launches, of course, not the ‘intellectual curiosity’ of the readers. I’ll be looking at this tomorrow in the context of late capitalism’s rise of the luxury brand.
