The New Yorker

The New Yorker is a magazine that revolver around the publication of essays, fiction, criticism, cultural commentary, and reportage. It’s often focused on New York’s culture and social events and has a clear editorial line that leans progressive, as most publications in the region.

Unlike any other publication I have ever seen, The New Yorker lists it’s writers, contributors, critics, and cartoonists right on the first page, but it doesn’t print it’s masthead anywhere in the magazine. If you do a little digging, you will find out that David Remnick has been the editor since 1998, but there is no masthead listing the editors and staff. It appears to be a tradition rooted in the magazine’s founder and first editor in chief’s idea that “...in the early days of the magazine..., first, there were no proven editors; second, I was encouraging people to write for a magazine that used pseudonyms and initials, signed pieces at the bottom, and didn’t play up writers in any way; and, third, because I wanted to avoid a great mass of mail coming in here addressed to me”.

Once we are past the index section of the magazine, where the articles and contributors are listed, we find the “mail” section. A rather short portion of the magazine consisting of one page, where letters from the readers are published, including the name and location of the reader who authored the letter.

Next, we find the nightlife section. A warning at the top of the page reads: “musicians and night-club proprietors live complicated lives…” adding later that “it’s advisable to check in advance to confirm engagements”. This list of performances and exhibitions briefly describes the performer’s body of work and gives a short assessment of why it’s worth the time to check them out. Dance, theatre and restaurant reviews occupy the next pages of the magazine in a similar format.

Once we reach the center portion of the magazine, we find a series of future and investigative pieces that fill what we could describe as “the well” of the magazine. In this particular issue, we find a central piece that does extensive reporting on the first election held in Saraqib, a town in the Syrian province of Idlib.

A number of feature pieces, short essays, short stories, and even poetry fill the rest of the magazine’s middle section.

Finally, in the back portion of the magazine, we find reviews of different disciplines. Music, books, theatre, and movies make the bulk of the reviews.

The last page of the magazine is reserved for cartoons and comic strips. This is the usual location of this type of content in most publications.

In summary, we could say that The New Yorker presents three clear sections. The first “third” of the magazine is dedicated to listing and recommending cultural events that will take place during the month that the particular issue was published. Then, in the “middle” section, we can find the longest and more substantial pieces of the publication. Every single one of the articles is a feature piece. Some are investigative reporting, some are fiction, some is poetry. And finally, in the back end of the magazine, we find most of the reviews and critics commentary on various disciplines such as music, books, theatre, film and tv.