Magazine Vet Offers Expert Advice to CCNY Journalism Students
Words by Georgina Lachman
Photography collage by Leanna Pham
Eliot Kaplan, a career coach and former Hearst Magazines editorial recruiter, recently addressed CCNY journalismstudents in Shepard Hall about the dynamic publishing business. The press eventcoveredKaplan’s professional life, assessingthe industry’s future, and imparting practical advice to budding journalists inthe rapidly changing field.
In recent years, the internet has threatened the viabilityof journalism, sparking heated discussion around its future. As a result, manylocal newspapers have gone under, while others remain beholden to stockholdersto stay afloat. Industry titans, such as CondéNast, have seen considerable lay-offs as a largely unregulated internetcontinues to upend once thriving empires.
Addressing a floundering print industry in the digital age,Kaplan emphasized brand cohesion as contingent upon a magazine’s enduringsuccess. The media veteran worked as an award-winning editor for GQ and editor in chief of Philadelphia Magazine prior to histenure as vice president of talent acquisition at Hearst. “I think themagazines that are going to survive are going to be consistent in all of theirmediums,” he told students. “The ones that seamlessly combine their print,their digital, their podcast, their events.”
According to Kaplan, a magazine’s fate may ultimately lie inits coffers. “The ones that have benefactors will survive,” he observed,referring to Laurene Powell Jobs’ recent acquisition of the Atlantic magazine. “They’ve doubled the size of their staff.”
Despite the industry’s changing landscape, new modes ofcommunication offer additional prospects to students hoping to break into the mediabusiness. Kaplan, who now offers tactical advice to job seekers through hiscompany, Eliot Kaplan Coaching, painted a bright future for thosewho have digital skills. “There’s all kinds of opportunities that didn’t existwhen I was coming up, or even ten years ago,” he noted. “You’re learning video,you’re learning photography, you’re learning cutting video.”
Although multimedia training can help students adapt to the growing needs of publications, Kaplan believes a firm grasp of the basics will ultimately differentiate them in the workforce. “It’s getting those really good nuts and bolts journalism skills,” he said, adding, “That, I think, there’s going to be a premium on.”
While journalism currently faces hurdles, the profession maysoon prevail as the proliferation of disinformation creates a greater demandfor objectivity. “There’s going to be an increasing focus on good reportingagain as we see in the age of fake, fake news,” Kaplan prophesied. “There is aneed.”
