Jet (magazine)

Jet
February 14, 1952, cover with Acquanetta
Former editorsMitzi Miller, Mira Lowe, Sylvia P. Flanagan, Robert E. Johnson
CategoriesNews magazine
Frequencyonline, formerly a print weekly
PublisherEbony Media Operations, LLC
(2016–present)
Johnson Publishing Company
(1951–2016)
Total circulation
(June, 2014)
(June 2012) 1.1 million
720,000[1]
FounderJohn H. Johnson
First issueNovember 1, 1951; 73 years ago (1951-11-01)
Final issueJune 2014 (2014-06) (print)
continuing in digital (2014)
CountryUnited States
Based inLos Angeles, California, U.S.[2]
LanguageEnglish
Websitejetmag.com
ISSN0021-5996
OCLC1781708

After noting the under-representation of African Americans in the media, publisher John H. Johnson had created Jet magazine to offer Black Americans proper representation.[3] Jet is an American weekly digital magazine focusing on news, culture, and entertainment related to the African-American community. Founded by Johnson in November 1951 of the Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois,[4][5] the magazine was billed as "The Weekly Negro News Magazine". Jet chronicled the civil rights movement from its earliest years, including the murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the activities of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Jet was printed from November 1, 1951, in digest-sized format in all or mostly black-and-white until its December 27, 1999, issue. In 2009, Jet expanded one of the weekly issues to a double issue published once each month. Johnson Publishing Company struggled with the same loss of circulation and advertising as other magazines and newspapers in the digital age, and the final print issue of Jet was published on June 23, 2014, continuing solely as a digital magazine app.[6][1] In 2016, Johnson Publishing sold Jet and its sister publication Ebony to private equity firm Clear View Group. As of the date of sale, the publishing company is known as Ebony Media Corporation.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Jet to stop printing weekly, change to digital app". The Washington Post. AP. May 7, 2014. Archived from the original on May 16, 2014.
  2. ^ Robert Channick (May 5, 2017). "Ebony cuts a third of its staff, moving editorial operations to LA". Chicagotribune.com. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  3. ^ Shepherd, Jazmyn (January 1, 2019). "Jet Magazine: Celebrating Black Female Beauty". XULAneXUS. 16 (2).
  4. ^ "From Negro Digest to Ebony, Jet and EM". Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. November 1992. pp. 50–55.
  5. ^ Almanac. (2006, 12). American History, 41, 11–13.
  6. ^ "Jet Magazine – Final Print Edition". Ebony Jet Shop. June 23, 2014. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  7. ^ "Ebony Jet Sold!". The Chicago Defender. June 16, 2016. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.