Another relic from the print journalism world is being put out to pasture.
On Friday afternoon, Oklahoma Today – the state-issued travel and tourism magazine – sent a rather curt email to its few remaining subscribers announcing it will end print publication at the close of this year, wrapping up a 70-year run as the official magazine of the State of Oklahoma.
Here’s a snippet:
Hey, I get why they’re cutting the magazine, but that kind of blows.
I’m a sucker for nostalgia, and whenever I think about Oklahoma Today, I’m always taken back to being a bored kid in the 1990s, thumbing through copies at my grandparents’ house and looking at all the pretty pictures of lakes, sunsets and Oklahoma celebrities. Granted, I don’t think I’ve picked up a copy since then thanks to the internet and smartphones, but especially for our older readers, it’s going to suck to see that go!
Usually when we write an article about the death of print journalism, it’s followed by a breakdown of the accompanying layoffs.
This time around, it looks like everyone who worked directly for the magazine is going to be shifted to new jobs within the Travel and Tourism Department, and will have their talents put to use in other content delivery methods:
That’s kind of good news, bad news for the employees who are affected.
On one hand, it’s good that they still have jobs. In today’s media and communications world, that alone is something to celebrate!
On the other hand, it probably sucks to have the job you signed up for disappear, only to be told your talents will now be “repurposed” with a bunch of generic buzzwords. Sure, it beats getting laid off, but it still has to feel a little weird to go from helping produce a beloved state magazine to uploading an Instagram carousel about Talimena Drive.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, I kind of approve of this move.
Like their newspaper brethren, magazines are an archaic content delivery system built on an antiquated revenue model. Spending a ton of money on one makes no sense in today’s day and age, and you’re way better off using those resources on modern things like social media content, short form video, podcasts, newsletters and other stuff people actually consume.
That being said, couldn’t they have kept Oklahoma Today around in some print capacity? You know, maybe a small quarterly vanity issue or a commemorative thing some grandparent can proudly leave on their coffee table? The magazine had been around for 70 years, and pulling the plug this quickly feels abrupt. What are local bed and breakfasts going to display in their lobbies now?!
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
