Perhaps the most disturbing thing about today’s news that Teen People is closing down its 8-year-old magazine is that 1.45 million people still subscribe to the monthly, down only 10 percent from its high.
Teen People joined us in targeting teens several years after The Tattoo began publication and from the beginning we knew it was everything that we despise about mainstream journalism’s efforts to attract young readers. Filled with pop stars, bad actors, starlets and the like, the magazine only rarely ventured into topics heavier than fluff. It catered to the celebrity nonsense that is eating away at the soul of society.
The Tattoo has always taken teens seriously. While we understand there’s plenty of room for fun, gossip and such, we know that what’s really important is working to let teens tell the world their perspective on 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, school violence, suicide, war and a host of other issues that involve more than where Lindsay Lohan partied last weekend.
The encouraging news in the demise of Teen People is that advertisers are looking online to reach young readers nowadays. They know that’s where to find teens, as we recognized long ago.
A site like The Tattoo reaches tens of thousands of the best teens in the world — those who write for us and the many, many others who just stop in to see what we’re doing.
It’s not Teen People. But, then, we don’t want to be.
Our official policy: We hate blogs.
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Copyright 2006 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved.
Teen People was sort of the miniature, YM-ed out version of People – which is the insulting, terrible, ridiculous magazine you describe for adults.
Was in an eye-doctor’s office recently and picked up a “People” only to feel as though I suddenly needed a general practitioner.
Good riddance indeed – maybe it’s an indication young people want something better.