Candace Higginbotham discussing her involvement with Southern Living magazine.
Students from Journalism 101 with Higginbotham.
Anybody who knows anything about media can recognize that print has been fighting an uphill battle recently. However, after sitting down and listening to the managing editor of Southern Living magazine, Candace Higginbotham, it appears that all of the downsizing could be bringing more creativity and partnership to the publication.
Higginbotham visited Jamie Cole’s Advanced Journalism Design Class on Sept. 18 to share her experiences with the magazine, the details of production, and the rapidly evolving digital component of Southern Living. Higginbotham outlined the five content pillars of the publication, described the demographics of their readership, discussed the detailed planning that goes into every issue, and guided the class through the step by step production of the magazine. Throughout all of these topics, the emphasis on the importance of integrating digital media into their magazine was evident.
Higginbotham told the students that successfully maintaining a print publication is time-consuming, difficult, and often times expensive. Collaboration has become increasingly important due to cutbacks in resources and staff. “At one time, Southern Living had 15 copy editors and now we have three,” said Higginbotham. She did not appear to be discouraged by this downsize in staff, however. Higginbotham said that collaboration is beneficial for creativity and saving both time and money. The reduction in in resources has led to every staff member gaining more digital responsibilities. Every staff writer works to insure the success of the magazine by playing the part of an editor and designing their individual pages for the tablet version of the magazine.
All of the cutbacks and downsizes can feel disheartening to both students hoping to break into the magazine industry and writers who fear being downsized themselves. Nevertheless, Higginbotham never once revealed any sadness for the shrinking print industry. After leaving the session with Higginbotham, I did not feel cynical about the future of media, but rather inspired to learn more about digital publishing and the frightening but exciting path it is paving.
becca c murdoch 