A not so accurate Fortune article by David Leonard detailing the supposed decline in growth of lad magazines such as Dennis Publishing’s Blender caused Dennis Publishing’s President and CEO Stephen Colvin to write a scathing rebuke to Fortune Managing Editor Rik Kirkland. Colvin’s letter was in response to supposedly inaccurate statements regarding the decline in circulation of Dennis Publishing’s Maxim, Blender and Stuff.
Colvin wrote, “By publishing an article that wildly distorts the facts and by displaying zero knowledge of the industry, youve got as much credibility covering your own magazine business as if you had hired Jayson Blair to be the magazines ombudsman.”
Colvin continues, “Where do Fortune editors get the nerve to criticize Dennis Publishing’s circulation strategy when slightly more than 94 percent of Fortune’s circulation is subscription-based while selling ‘dirt-cheap subscriptions’ (to quote Leonard’s article) equal to $1.15 an issue (regular newsstand price: $4.99) and almost 10 percent of these subscriptions are bulk. Compare that to Dennis Publishing’s very healthy 67.5 percent subscription to 32.5 percent newsstand ratio (industry standard: 84 percent subscriptions, 16 percent newsstand) and no bulk.”
Even the magazine publishing industry is turning into a Jerry Springer show.
