GREAT thread! I am majoring in Commuications (concentration in Print Journalism) and am thinking of maybe going into magazines when I get out of school (if I don't go to grad school)
First of all, my target market would be culturally Deaf people....yes I know hearing impaired people are a more lucrative market but there's only so many articles that you can do on the newest hearing aids, CIs and ALDs.
I read Volta Voices occasionally (library at school has it) and it is so beyond boring! It's just the same old shit that you can find at your audi's office.
I think I'd make it a cross between a Culturally Deaf magazine and a Disabilty Magazine. There'd be articles on happenings, and role models and cultral stuff, but there'd also be articles on things like ALD, (assistive Listening Devices) hearing aids, and CIs and improvements in the field. I'd target relatively young people (this wouldn't be a magazine for old people who just want UGLY ITEs)
so the content would be hip and well-written.
I'd have a teens section and a kid's section as well as a parents section,(for outreach and support. I really do think that the deaf-culture needs to work on outreach and support to parents) but it would be mostly for people with hearing loss.
Mayby a fashion section where people send in pics of themselves with decals on their CIs or fancy hearing aids..... or latest delvelopments in cool hearing aids.....like the glow-in-the-dark earmolds or the colored tubing or the Oticon aids...
I'd accept freelance articles, I'd try to accept hip advertsiting. Look at the ads in Volta Voices....even the ads for kids aids are UBER preppy!
I think a debate section would be neat, and creative writing sections and things like that.
