Filed under: News
From BlackMediaSCOOP:
Essence is under fire today and I must admit the article is intriguing. Is Essence losing focus or is Raynard Jackson too harsh on the publication?
Essence Magazine used to be the preeminent magazine for Black women in the U.S. They, like many Black publications, have lost their relevance; and in the process become an embarrassment to the very group they claim to target.
Essence was founded in 1968 by Ed Lewis, Clarence Smith, Cecil Hollingworth, Jonathan Blount, and Denise Clark. Their initial circulation began at around 50,000 per month and now is estimated to be over 1 million per month. It is a monthly publication focusing on Black women between the ages of 18 and 49. Essence was bought out by Time Inc. in 2005, thus no longer being a Black owned publication (similar to B.E.T.).
The impetus behind the founding of Essence was to show a side of Black women that was never portrayed in the mainstream media. Images of Black women were controlled by white media outlets that had little to no knowledge of the Black community. Most of these images were very stereotypical and lacking substance.
Read more here.