New York Magazine: Adam Moss

Adam Moss presenting at Mizzou

By: Ally Straussner 

Editor-in-chief of New York Magazine, and 2012 Missouri Honor Medalist Adam Moss, doesn’t throw away old journalism -he revamps it.

Early November,  Moss came to visit aspiring journalists in the Journalism school at MU to talk about his success as Editor. Since 2004, he has accumulated multiple awards in excellent journalism for both print and digital media. Due to his passion and innovative skills in modern technology, he brought forth the ability to show a magazine to a duel audience.

Moss said, “We are thinking ambidextrously in online and print. We are thinking about people who want to read stuff on cell phones, on a tablet or iPad at night in an armchair.”

Being one of the first cities to have a sense of national audience for their publication, New York Magazine had to one-up its competitors. Moss explains vividly how the website is merely a portal that had various categories of interest.

Nymag.com, as Moss puts it, is the “Mothership for the entire audience.” It targets audiences by what they are interested due to the variety of online blogs it gateways to, including: The Cut (Fashion Blog), Vulture (entertainment), The Sports Section, Daily Intel, and Grub Street.

By making specific blogs New York Magazine reels in new audience members. Moss offers, “[it] is a new way about looking at the world.”

He didn’t stop there. To keep audiences engaged with journalism at the magazine, Moss wanted to keep a constant conversation with readers, yet it was impossible in print by just writing a letter to the editor. So he took out the letter to the editor out and decided on something a little more modern- a comments page on nymag.com.

“Comments online help advance an ongoing story. It’s the first place where web and story interact,” Says Moss.

Another way he redesigned New York Magazine was helping evolve print into digital media where the website engaged with the audience. Interactive games and quizzes are similar to those in the magazine which Moss calls, “play journalism.” 

Although the audience has “play journalism” they are also interactive with the writers. Beat writers have changed the way people can stay up to date with current evolving information and also how they work magazine dimension as well as digital.

Of the millions of people who read online, digital media, Adam Moss has certainly managed to keep readers of New York Magazine absorbed. He says, “The world is moving so fast, it is important to mix familiarity with surprise but also creativity, which is what we are all about.”