Vanity Fair Bags "Green Issue" - Claims No Further Need For Dedicated May Edition

[hatrack]

Spring has sprung, and everything is going green. Everything, that is, except Vanity Fair, which has decided to ditch its annual "green issue". For the past three years, the monthly glossy has made much of dedicating its May issue to the environment: from Leonardo DiCaprio posing on an iceberg to last year's open letter from Robert Kennedy Jnr to the next president calling for action on global warming. This year, the incipient tradition has been quietly dropped.

Condé Nast, publisher of Vanity Fair, argues that the environment has become so integral to the news agenda that there is no longer a need for a dedicated issue. "Vanity Fair remains committed to covering the environment, and we'll spread our coverage throughout the year, instead of relegating the bulk of it to a specific issue" a spokeswoman says.

But others interpret the move as a sign that the environment is slipping down the agenda, overtaken by the economic crisis. This theory is backed by new research showing that coverage of the environment has fallen significantly. The latest figures from TNS Media Intelligence, a research firm, show that national newspaper coverage of environmental issues – including climate change, global warming, green consumerism and sustainability – fell by 27 per cent in 2008. In the first quarter, there were 3,866 articles published on green issues, compared with 2,811 in the final quarter.

Vanity Fair admits that the recession has had a bearing: "With so much else going on relating to the global financial crisis, we have been focusing on that of late". Environmentalists are concerned that the decision may have an unwelcome effect on the perception of green issues. "It is vital that green living is not treated as a trend that comes and goes, but that it becomes part of the way we live," says Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF.

EDIT

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/its-so-last-year-vanity-fair-abandons-the-green-issue-1662661.html

[KT2000]

1. That's OK

Stories about celebrities using reusable shopping bags was pretty boring. They have been doing some excellent pieces on the economy lately. The last issue had an article about the bankruptcy of Iceland that is priceless.

[hatrack]

3. It's odd - some of the best political writing around arrives in a magazine . . .

. . . that features Amy Adams and Nicole Kidman on the cover.

Not that there's anything wrong with that . . .

[KT2000]

4. and a perfume gas cloud!!

but worth the effort. It just feels like Graydon Carter loves his journalists.

[XemaSab]

2. I've been saying this for years:

If "going green" :eyes: is a fad, it's a fad that will go out of date. :(

[hunter]

5. A clean coal high fructose corn syrup edition will solve their financial woes.

Throw in some pharmaceutical advertisements and they can become an immortal brain sucking zombie magazine like the Readers Digest.

Or maybe they just need more Arnold...