George(magazine)

George

First issue
Categories	Politics magazine
Frequency	Monthly
First issue	September 1995
Final issue	January 2001
Company	Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
Country	United States
Based in	New York City
Language	English
ISSN	1084-662X

Georgewas a monthly magazine centered on the theme of politics-as-lifestyle founded byJohn F. Kennedy Jr.andMichael J. Bermanwith publisherHachette Filipacchi Media U.S.inNew York Cityin September 1995. Its tagline was "Not Just Politics As Usual." It was published from 1995 to 2001.

Overview

For the debut issue, creative director Matt Berman (no relation to co-founder Michael Berman) conceived a cover which received a great deal of attention for its image ofCindy Crawforddressed asGeorge Washingtonphotographed byHerb Ritts.

Georgedeparted from the format of traditional political publications, whose audience primarily comprised people in or around the political world. The general template forGeorgewas similar to magazines such asRolling Stone,EsquireorVanity Fair.The consistent underlying theme was to marry the themes of celebrity and media with the subject of politics in such a way that the general public would find political news and discourse about politics more interesting to read.

Notable contributors

• Paul Begala
• Roger Black
• George Clooney
• Kellyanne Conway
• Ann Coulter
• Al D'Amato
• Lisa DePaulo
• Al Franken
• Stephen Glass
• Rush Limbaugh
• Norman Mailer
• Chris Matthews
• Steve Miller
• Cathy Scott
• W. Thomas Smith Jr.
• Jackie Stallone
• Naomi Wolf

Reception

External videos
Washington Journalinterview withGeorgeexecutive editor Elizabeth Mitchell,August 18, 1997,C-SPAN
Washington Journaldiscussion of theGeorgemedia issue withGeorgeeditor Gary Ginsberg, Matt Drudge, and Hanna Rosin,April 25, 1998,C-SPAN

When it first appeared,Georgeattracted great interest, and for a brief period had the largest circulation of any political magazine in the nation, partly due to the celebrity status of Kennedy, but it soon began losing money. Kennedy andGeorgeoccasionally courted controversy to boost sales, one notable example being the 1997 issue wherein Kennedy in his editorial lambasted his cousinsMichael KennedyandJoe Kennedy II,whose marital scandals had recently made news, as "poster boys for bad behavior."

Kennedy later complained that the magazine was not taken seriously in the publishing world.

Critics calledGeorge"the political magazine for people who don't understand politics," assailing it for "stripping any and all discussion of political issues from its coverage of politics."In a feature in its final issue,Spymagazine asserted that the magazine's premise was flawed because, "Politics overlapped with Pop Culture in such a limited number of ways".That fairly critical profile inSpydescribedGeorgeas "scrambling for celebrities 'with tits' as often as possible to put on the cover and then trying to figure out what that person had to do with politics".

Decline

After Kennedydied in a plane crashin 1999, Hachette Filipacchi Magazines purchased Kennedy's portion of the magazine from his estate and continued for over a year, with Frank Lalli as editor-in-chief.With falling advertising sales,the magazine ceased publication in 2001, two years after Kennedy's death.

External videos
Tenth anniversary discussion at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University,C-SPAN

In 2005,Harvard Kennedy Schoolheld a panel discussion titled "Not Just Politics as Usual," which commemorated the 10th anniversary of the magazine's launch. The panel was moderated byTom Brokawand featured appearances by other journalists.

Increased popularity

A February 1997 edition ofGeorgewith the tagline "Survival Guide to the Future", wherein Kennedy interviewsBill Gates,has become well sought-after by adherents of theQAnonconspiracy theory, with one copy online being listed at $3,499.99.

External links

• York, Anthony (July 18, 1999)."Can George survive without JFK Jr.?".Salon.
• Jacobs, Samuel P. (October 12, 2005)."IOP Honors George Magazine at Forum".The Harvard Crimson.
• "Kennedy School Press Release: George Magazine Anniversary Forum".John F. Kennedy School Of Government.October 5, 2005. Archived fromthe originalon November 25, 2006.
• "George Magazine To Fold In March".CNN.January 4, 2001. Archived fromthe originalon November 29, 2006.
• Usborne, David (January 6, 2001)."Without its founder, JFK Jnr's 'George' folds".The Independent.London. Archived fromthe originalon January 2, 2008.