Maclean's

Maclean's is Canada's leading weekly news magazine.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean. The 43-year-old trade magazine publisher purchased an advertising agency's in-house business journal — along with its 5,000-strong subscription base. The Business Magazine, launched in October of that year, was a pocket-sized digest of articles gathered from Canadian, US and British periodicals. It sold 6,000 copies. Inside its bright blue cover, the fledgling monthly anointed itself, "the Cream of the World's magazines reproduced for Busy People." Its aim, Maclean wrote a year later, was not "merely to entertain but also to inspire its readers." It was renamed The Busy Man's Magazine in December, 1905 and began soliciting original manuscripts on varied topics such as immigration, national defence, woman's suffrage and home life as well as fiction. Maclean renamed the magazine after himself in 1911, dropping the previous title as too evocative of a business magazine for what had become a general interest publication.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maclean hired Thomas B. Constain as editor in 1917. Constain invigorated the magazine's coverage of World War I running first-person accounts of life on the Western Front and critiques of Canada's war effort that came into conflict with wartime censorship regulations. Constain was ordered to remove an article by Maclean himself as it was too critical of war policy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Constain encouraged literary pieces and artistic expressions and ran fiction by Robert Service, Lucy Maud Montgomery and O. Henry, commentary by Stephen Leacock and illustrations by C. W. Jefferys, F.S. Coburn and several Group of Seven members, including A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald.http://www.macleans.ca/contactus/article.jsp?content=20050523_106218_106218.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1919, the magazine moved from monthly to fortnightly publication and ran a notable expose of the drug trade by Emily Murphy. Constain left the magazine to become a novelist and was replaced by J. Vernon Mackenzie who remained at the helm until 1926. During his tenure, Maclean's achieved national stature.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

H. Napier Moore became the new editor and saw the magazine as an exercise in nation-building, giving it a mandate to promote national pride. Under Moore, the magazine's covers promoted Canadian scenery and imagery - the magazine also sponsored an annual short story contest on Canadian themes and acquired a sports department.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During World War II, Maclean's ran an overseas edition for Canadian troops serving abroad. By the time of its final run in 1946, the "bantam" edition had a circulation of 800,000. Maclean's war coverage featured war photography by Yousef Karsh, later an internationally acclaimed portrait photographer, and articles by war correspondents John Clare and Leonard Shapiro.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

W. Arthur Irwin replaced Moore as editor in 1945 and reoriented the magazine by building it around news features written by a new stable of writers that included Pierre Berton, W.O. Mitchell, Scott Young, Ralph Allen and Blair Fraser.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Allen became editor upon Irwin's acceptance of a diplomatic posting in 1950. This era of the magazine was noted for its articles on the Canadian landscape and profiles of town and city life. The feature article "Canada's North" by Pierre Berton promoted a new national interest in the Arctic. Prominent writers during this period included Robert Fulford, Peter Gzowski, Peter C. Newman, Trent Frayne, June Callwood, McKenzie Porter and Christina McCall. Exposes in the 1950s challenged the criminal justice system, explored LSD and articifical insemination.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maclean's published a memorable editorial the day after the 1957 Canadian election bemoaning the re-election of the St. Laurent Liberals. Written before the election results were known, Allen failed to anticipate the upset election of John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The magazine struggled to compete with television in the 1960s by increasing its international coverage and attempting to keep up with the sexual revolution through a succession of editors including Gzowski.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Peter C. Newman became editor in 1971 and attempted to revive the magazine by publishing feature articles by writers such as Barbara Frum and Michael Enright and poetry by Irving Layton.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Under Newman, he magazine switched from being a monthly general interest publication to a bi-weekly news magazine in 1975, and to a weekly newsmagazine three years later. The magazine opened news bureaus across the country as well as in London, England and Washington D.C. and became a weekly in 1978.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today Maclean's remains one of Canada's leading source of news and information. Maclean's is also famous for its annual ranking of Canadian universities. In 2001, Anthony Wilson-Smith became the 15th editor in the magazine's history. He left the post at the end of February 2005 and was replaced by Kenneth Whyte. The magazine has been owned by the Rogers Communications conglomerate since Rogers acquired Maclean-Hunter, the former publisher, in 1994.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Noted Maclean's contributors during its incarnation as a newsweekly include columnists Barbara Amiel, Allan Fotheringham, Diane Francis and Paul Wells as well as Newman.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maclean's has been criticized for having a supposedly pro-Liberal (both the party and political stance) position by conservatives such as Conrad Black. Whyte, a former editor at the National Post, is seen to have taken the magazine in a more conservative direction.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

News magazine: A news magazine is a print magazine or a radio or TV program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events. News magazines generally go more in-depth into stories than newspapers or television news, trying to give the reader an understanding of the context surrounding important e...

1905: 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar)....

Toronto: Toronto is Canada's largest city and the provincial capital of Ontario. Toronto's population is 2,518,772 (Statistics Canada, 2004); that of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is 5,203,686 (Statistics Canada, 2004). Residents of Toronto are called Torontonians (in French: torontois). The city is part of...