Editor and Publisher Reports

Today, two of the premier industry associations representing news and magazine publishers join forces. It’s official: the News Media Alliance (NMA) will merge today with the Association of Magazine Media, still fondly known by its former acronym, “MPA,” or the Magazine Publishers Association. News businesses and magazine publishers have largely traveled similar but parallel paths since the advent of the internet. They’ve been challenged to build digital products and attract new audiences to them. They’ve both endured a revolution in the print space, with former analog print processes replaced by digital workflow and computer-to-plate (CTP) imaging. Both have been through consolidation, paper price hikes, changes to postal regulations, the disruption of their advertising and revenue models and more than a few lean years when austerity seemed the only path to sustainability. Though news businesses and magazines across the genre spectrum also had their unique challenges along the way, they share a lot in common