Jessica Johnson, Athens Banner-Herald
- When Johnson Publishing canceled the Ebony Fashion Fair for the first time in 51 years, the financial woes of declining advertising sales hammering Ebony, the nation’s oldest black-owned magazine, became even more apparent.
The news of Fashion Fair’s cancellation was combined with a grim report concerning the status of Johnson Publishing’s finances: The company is seeking an investor to keep Ebony, its flagship publication, afloat.
Like all print magazines and newspapers, Ebony is feeling the pinch of our sluggish economy as well as the loss of advertising dollars that have flowed to the Internet. The Publishers Information Bureau reported that Ebony’s ads decreased by 33 percent during the first quarter of 2009, and revenues fell to $18.8 million from $27.7 million in 2008. Earlier this month, the Media Industry Newsletter listed Ebony’s advertising pages down by 40 percent.
