Time Inc has decided to shut down LIFE magazine, a publication it had resuscitated in late 2004 as a newspaper supplement. Time Inc said in a statement Monday that it would keep the LIFE brand going on the Internet, where it will launch a website with photos from its massive image collection, and by publishing books.
“While consumers responded enthusiastically to LIFE, with the decline in the newspaper business, and the outlook for advertising growth in the newspaper supplement category, the response was not strong enough to warrant further investment in LIFE as a weekly newspaper supplement,” Time Inc said.
Time Inc has now shut down LIFE magazine three times. The April 20 issue will be its last in print.
LIFE had been carried in 103 newspapers, and competed in the weekly newspaper supplement business with Parade, owned by Advance Publications Inc, and Gannett Co’s USA Weekend. American Profile, a privately held supplement, targets smaller newspapers.
Originally launched in 1936 as a weekly, LIFE was suspended from regular publication in 1972 and brought back as a monthly in 1978. It was suspended again in 2000, then brought back as a newspaper supplement in 2004.
Time will make LIFE’s collection of 10 million images available online, with “the most important collection of imagery covering the events and people of the 20th century” available for free for personal use. The public has never seen more than 97 per cent of the collection, which includes pictures by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White and Gordon Parks, the statement said. The most important collection of imagery covering the events and the people of the 20th century will be made available to the public for personal use at no cost.
“ The market has moved dramatically since October 2004 and it is no longer appropriate to continue publication of LIFE as a newspaper supplement. However, Time Inc. remains committed to the LIFE brand, and we will now be concentrating on migrating this iconic brand in many innovative ways on multiple digital platforms,” Time Inc’s CEO Ann Moore said in a statement. The company plans to retain Managing Editor Bill Shapiro, Executive Editor Maggie Murphy, President Andy Blau and Publisher Peter Bauer, she said.
Time Inc, a unit of the media conglomerate Time Warner Inc, is a major magazine publisher with titles including People, Sports Illustrated, Time, and Fortune.
“LIFE magazine was a truly innovative publishing venture. It was developed, edited and published by some of the best talent in the business and we can remain proud of its many achievements. But sometimes we have to make tough calls, and this was one,” said Ann Moore.
In a reflection of the tough times facing magazines, in January the company announced nearly 300 job cuts and sold 18 of its smaller magazine titles including Popular Science, Field & Stream and Parenting. Time Inc is repositioning many of its brands to follow its readers and advertisers onto the Internet.
