Parade (magazine)

Parade is an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers in the United States. It was founded in 1941 and is owned by Athlon Publishing, which purchased it from Advance Publications. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., Parade has a circulation of 32 million and a readership of 54.1 million.^[1] As of 2010, its editor is Maggie Murphy.^[2]

Publishing history and circulation

The magazine was started by Field Enterprises in 1941. John Hay Whitney, publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, bought Parade in 1958. Booth Newspapers purchased it in 1973. Booth was purchased by Advance Publications in 1976, and Parade became a separate operating unit within Advance.

The magazine is printed on newsprint, although usually a higher quality of newsprint than the rest of the newspapers it accompanies but of lesser quality than magazine paper.

The magazine has one main feature article, often a smaller feature article, and a number of regular columns. There is also a significant amount of advertising for consumer products, some with clipable coupons or tear-off business reply cards.

Parade Digital Partners is a distribution network that includes the web site Parade.com and over 700 of the magazine's partner newspaper web sites. Parade Digital Partners has a reach of more than 30 million monthly unique visitors (comScore Q1 2014)

Mission statement

"Parade celebrates the emotional touchstones of American life: We cherish family, friendship, the pride of small towns, and the rush of big cities. We champion good food and great writers. We believe in living longer, healthier and happier. We adore holidays. We honor service. We delight in all types of personalities, from pop stars to presidents to favorite pets. We respect the past but we live in the present. Above all else, we believe in America. We know who we are, and we're confident about where we're going."

Past and present features

• "Ask Marilyn" by Marilyn vos Savant: Vos Savant answers questions from readers, from brainteasers to explanations of illogical customs, advice, or legitimate philosophical questions. Occasionally she will pose a brainteaser of her own or poll her readers.
• Cartoon Parade: Panel cartoons by various creators, including Dave Coverly, Carla Ventresca, Dan Piraro, and Gary McCoy
• "In Step With" by James Brady: Celebrity interview column which ceased after Brady's 2009 death.
• “Intelligence Report": Your guide to health, life, money, entertainment, and more
• Interviews have included such celebrities as Steve Carell, Jimmy Fallon, Katharine McPhee, Katy Perry and Noah Wyle.
• Laugh Parade: Gag cartoons by Bunny Hoest and John Reiner
• "Numbrix": Also by Marilyn vos Savant, Numbrix is a simple puzzle game in which the reader arranges the numbers 1 to 81 in a continuous path that fits into a 9×9 square grid. Numbrix was introduced in July 2008 (originally as a 7×7 puzzle). In addition to the weekly print version, vos Savant also produces daily Numbrix puzzles for Parade's Web site. Since 2014, Parade's site has also published a much more difficult variant, "Jadium" (formerly "Snakepit"), by Jeff Marchant.
• "Our Towns" is a regular feature written by journalists from Parade newspaper partners.
• "The Parade High School All-America Teams": This sports franchise honors as All-Americans the best U.S. high school athletes in boys and girls basketball, football, and boys and girls soccer. Parade began its series in 1957 with its boys basketball honors, and expanded to football six years later.^[3] Girls basketball was added in 1977,^[4] boys soccer in 1979,^[5] and girls soccer in 1993.^[6] In 2010, Parade introduced its All-America Service Team, which honors high-school students for commitment to service and volunteerism.
• "Personality Parade" by Walter Scott (a pseudonym, originally used by Lloyd Shearer and now by a rotating group of edit staffers):^[7] In Q&A sessions, celebrities often discuss some project or movie which is just about to be released.
• "Views," an editorial column by various authors, including CNN political analyst David Gergen and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Connie Schultz.
• "Keeping Up with Youth" (1960–70s)

Special editions

What People Earn

"What People Earn" is a yearly special issue typically in early spring.

Where America Lives

"Where America Lives" is an ongoing thematic feature.

What America Eats

"What America Eats" is presented seasonally throughout the year.

The Giving Issue

"The Giving Issue" is typically in the issue reaching readers on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend.

Publishing lag time

The magazine has a lag time to publication of about ten days. That arrangement has led the magazine to be criticized for its slow reaction to events.

The January 6, 2008 edition cover and main article asked whether Benazir Bhutto was "America's best hope against Al-Qaeda," after her December 27, 2007 assassination.^[8] In response to reader and media^[9][10] complaints, Parade stated on their website:

"Dear Parade Readers, Parade publishes more than 32 million copies of each issue and distributes them to 415 newspapers across the country. In order to meet our printing, distribution and insertion deadlines, we must send the issue to the printer three weeks before the cover date. Our Benazir Bhutto issue, for example, went to press on Dec. 19. By the time Ms. Bhutto was slain on Dec. 27, this issue of Parade was already printed and shipped to our partner newspapers. Recalling, reprinting and redistributing our January 6 issue was not an option."^[11]

A similar incident, albeit of a lesser scale, occurred in the February 11, 2007 issue when Walter Scott's "Personality Parade" reported that Barbaro, an American thoroughbred racehorse and winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby, was in a stable condition. Barbaro had been euthanized on January 29, 2007.^[12]

On April 27, 2014, Walter Scott's "Personality Parade" reported that Joby Ogwyn would BASE jump in a wingsuit from the summit of Mount Everest live on the Discovery Channel in May of 2014. However, before the edition appeared in print, the government of Nepal closed Mount Everest to climbers because of an avalanche on April 18, 2014 that killed 16 Sherpas, including five Sherpas working for the Discovery Channel in advance of Ogwyn's planned jump.

References

External links

• Official website