Who’s Going to Save Ebony Magazine? Legendary Mag For Sale
Ebony Magazine once a staple in black household’s faces tough economic times. The periodical has done little to adapt to the changing demand of black consumers. Linda Johnson (Rice), the daughter of Ebony’s legendary founder, the late John H. Johnson, has approached, among others, Time Inc., Viacom, and private investors that include buyout firms.
Estee Sumpter
In the interest of keeping Ebony Magazine a black owned publication, A group of journalists including former National Association of Black Journalists President Sidmel Estes-Sumpter, media executive and college professor Neil Foote and former broadcast news manager Willie Chriesman confirmed interest in the publications. In addition, another group, headed by Connecticut businessmen and brothers Kenton and Peter Clarke also said they want to acquire the magazine.
Both groups of potential investors are looking to expand the brands online presence and to provide information not available in other outlets.
Thumbing through any recent edition of Ebony or Jet magazine gives you a sense of a time warp. In Jet, the black beauties of the week remain (although some of them are quite questionable). You will not find in depth articles focusing on politics or economics. What you will find is a publication written for the less knowledgeable reader. With the demographics of the black community changing to increased rates of higher education, Ebony must change its format to continue to survive.
Other magazines such as Essence are under the helm of predominantly white corporations. Subsequently many readers are saying it is imperative to ensure that one of the oldest and largest publications remain black owned. Whether you agree with this sentiment or not, the loss of Ebony Magazine would be the end of an era.
