Mighty Morphin' Magazines

Ray Hennessey, editor-in-chief of SmartMoney.com and Trenton State College alumnus, made a special appearance in a discussion panel on online magazines called “The Morphing Magazine: Online Publishing for a New Generation,” sponsored by Unbound, the College’s own online magazine, and Ed@TCNJ, the magazine club. The panel also featured Blake Wilson, editorial assistant at Slate.com, and Jillian St. Charles, online editor of Redbook.

The three guests were generous enough to oblige in a meet-and-greet with Unbound and Ed@TCNJ members before the discussion.

Unbound, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, is the College’s only online magazine, founded in journalism professor Kim Pearson’s classroom in Spring 1996. St. Charles commented that Unbound truly spearheaded the online magazine movement, saying that most online magazines have been cropping up just recently.

Ed@TCNJ, a chapter of Ed2010, was founded last year as the only club on campus for students interested in pursuing a career in magazine writing and editing. Since its founding, Ed@TCNJ has put together several successful discussion panels featuring guests who are well established in magazines.

More than 60 attendees packed a Forcina Hall lecture room to hear the anecdotes and advice the three speakers had to offer. Despite the large crowd, the discussion remained intimate and personable. Even the audience had a special guest: Professor Emeritus Robert Cole, who founded TCNJ’s journalism program and retired just last year.

“A big reason why I am in journalism today is because of Bob Cole and Professor Pearson,” Hennessey said. Hennessey graduated TSC in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in English, but has since worked at The Times of Trenton , Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, and also appeared daily on the CNBC/Dow Jones Halftime Report on CNBC’s Power Lunch, which he created. He started out writing obituaries for The Times, but his career sky-rocketed after he broke the story about Megan Kanka.

Wilson and St. Charles also have their share of experience.

Wilson, a Yale University graduate, started at Atlantic Monthly in Boston, then took part in a start-up men’s magazine before moving to New York City to work for the New York Review of Books. He is now an editorial assistant for Slate.com, one of the most popular online-exclusive magazines founded on the principle that a magazine does not have to be in print to be successful.

St. Charles originally wanted to work strictly for newspapers, but got thrown into the online world after getting an internship at CNN. She has since learned that “the line between platforms is permeable,” and advised that those going into journalism should not limit themselves to one medium. Contrary to popular belief, St. Charles affirms that publishing a magazine online actually helps gain subscribers of the print version, which she has found to be true of Redbook, one of the most popular women’s magazines in the nation.

According to all three speakers, the main point to focus on when going into online publishing is that things change, and flexibility is necessary.

“You have to be able to give people news that they want in the way they want it,” Hennessey said. “In 10 years, we could be talking about the chips we’ve implanted in your brains.”