Remember how the heroes of the famous Soviet cinema hit “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”, released almost 35 years ago, argued over whether the theater would destroy television or not? As you can see, the theater is alive! And this is the best answer to pessimists who claim that very soon the Internet will supplant print media. Moreover, new magazines are constantly appearing, and for some years periodicals have managed to attract an audience, which needs to run in the circulation of several hundred thousand or even millions of copies.
A bit of history
As you know, a magazine is a printed periodical, which, according to GOST, should have a permanent heading. By the way, the idea to inform fellow scientists and the general public about new discoveries first occurred to the Frenchman Denis de Sallo. It was he, with the approval of the omnipotent Minister Colbert, who published in 1665 the Journal des Savants, which a century later Voltaire called the prototype of all such publications. By the way, it was Salo who introduced the concept of feedback, inviting readers to “send their comments so that they are also published in the journal”, and began to post illustrations, including very large ones. The world's first periodical very quickly gained popularity among the reading public. Therefore, it is not surprising that by the end of the 17th century in France there were already about fifty magazines of various kinds.
The most distributed magazine in the world
As you know, most of the super achievements in various fields are published in the Guinness Book of Records. So, it states that the most widely distributed magazine in the world is The Watchtower, its circulation is 40,000,000 copies, it is published in more than 180 languages. Since 1879, its publisher has been the well-known organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, the magazine is distributed in 236 countries of the world where communities of followers of this organization legally or illegally operate. True, in this case, the title “most distributed magazine in the world” does not mean at all that the Watchtower is incredibly popular.
After all, it is known that very often “witnesses” have to go to various tricks in order to convince some “soul”, which, in their opinion, needs to be saved, read it, or at least agree to take a look. In any case, at the moment, the permission to distribute the Watchtower in our country has been canceled, so this magazine is often tried to be smuggled into Russia illegally, especially since the members of this organization have vast experience in this type of activity. Indeed, for over 140 years of their existence, they have been constantly subjected to persecution by the authorities.
As for the content of the publication, it is enough to say that in the first issue of The Watchtower magazine for the year 1879 the main goal of the publication was declared - “to help readers realize that the world is experiencing its last days”. As they say, comments are superfluous!
Popular magazines of Russia
To date, among the print media in our country, the number of readers is won by the Antenna-Telesem TV guide. Its weekly circulation is 4,077,288 copies. Of course, this is not enough to qualify for the title “the most distributed magazine in the world,” but the figure is still quite impressive. The publication’s geographical coverage is also solid, including 72 cities of Russia and 4 cities in the Baltic countries and the CIS. In this magazine, readers can read a TV program, find out more about the life of stars, find a huge number of crosswords and puzzles, and also get tips that are useful in housekeeping.
Among the most circulating can also be noted such Russian magazines as “Everything for a Woman”, “Home”, “My Favorite Cottage”, “Secrets of the Stars”, etc. In addition, there are Russian versions of world-famous magazines that have in our country has an audience of several hundred thousand people.
Print editions for ladies and girls
The first Russian women's magazine was published in 1779. His goal was to acquaint girls and ladies with the latest in fashion and teach good manners. A little later, from the beginning of the 19th century, magazines of literary and entertaining orientation began to be published, and in the 1860s corners of secular chronicles began to appear in print publications intended for women. In addition, the emergence of cinema led to an interest in the life of stars and gave rise to a phenomenon such as paparazzi.
And even in Soviet times, the “Worker” and “Peasant” magazines, originally created for propaganda purposes, published articles on home economics, the psychology of family relations, and tips on needlework. But the real revolution in the field of the women's press occurred in 1989. After all, it was then that the women's magazine “Burda Fashion” began to be published in the USSR. It immediately gained immense popularity because it published patterns and patterns according to which women could sew their clothes, which was extremely important in the era of general shortage.
Popular glossy magazines for ladies published in Russia
Today in our country you can buy periodicals for women of several orientations:
- family-household, such as “Lisa”, “Peasant”, “Home”;
- elite, for example, “Cosmopolitan”, “Elle”, “Marie Claire”, “Harper's Bazaar”;
- for young girls (“Elle Girl” and “Lisa. Girl”);
- for moms, for example, “Lisa. My child";
- dedicated to women's health (“Women's Health”, “Beauty & Health”).
In addition, interest magazines, especially sewing, as well as knitting magazines are very popular. For example, for many years, Russians have been looking for patterns for their needlework and photographs of current models in Sabrina.
The most popular magazine for real men
By far, the most famous periodical for representatives of the strong half of humanity is “Playboy”, the first issue of which was published in 1953. Although most people associate him with half-dressed beauties, at different times they published works by Arthur Clark, Stephen King, Jan Fleming, Stanislav Lem and others. As for Russia, the first Russian men's magazine - “Bear” - appeared in 1995. However, it existed only until 2011. Today, among the most popular publications of this kind in our country, in addition to “Playboy”, include “Maxim”, “Men's Health Russia” and “GQ”.
Magazines for children
“Murzilka” and “Funny Pictures” - these names are familiar to many since childhood. In general, children's magazines in our country have always been very popular. It is enough to say that the same “Murzilka”, the first issue of which was published back in 1924, was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest of the existing children's publications. Moreover, it continues to be produced with a rather large circulation of 85,000 copies for children's periodicals.
The most popular literary magazines in our country
The idea to print literary works in periodicals arose in 1668 among a group of Italian writers. The journal they published was called “Il Giornale de'Letterati”, which translates as “Journal of the Writers”. Later, colleges from England and France also followed suit. As for Russia, one of the first such publications is considered A.P. Sumarokov's magazine. However, they became really popular in the 19th century, when representatives of the Golden Age of Russian literature began to print in them. As for the present, when listing the names of well-known magazines of this kind, one cannot but mention “Spark”, “New World”, “Foreign Literature” and “Friendship of Peoples”.