Socolow cited in media reports on the end of Mad Magazine

Several news organizations around the world including Smithsonian magazine and Radio-Canada cited Michael Socolow, an associate professor of communication and journalism at the University of Maine, in reports about Mad Magazine no longer publishing new content. After a 67-year run, the satirical publication will disappear from newsstands after the release of its August issue, Smithsonian reported. The magazine will reprint old material with new covers, which will be available in comic stores and via subscription, and won’t be creating any new content aside from end-of-year specials and other one-off features, the article states. Though silly, the magazine had a serious mission: to encourage readers to think carefully and skeptically, which was a radical, subversive notion in the magazine’s early years according to the Smithsonian, which cited a piece written by Socolow for the Conversation. “[T]he profusion of advertising and Cold War propaganda infected everything in American culture,” Socolow wrote. “At a time when American television only relayed three networks and consolidation limited alternative media options, Mad’s message stood out.” SWI in Switzerland, MTV Uutiset in Finland, Salzburger Nachrichten in Austria, Die Presse and DW Akademie in Germany, and To Bhma and To Manifesto in Greece also cited Socolow in reports on the magazine.