Goodbye to Jet Magazine: Last issue released in June

Goodbye to Jet Magazine: Last issue released in June

By Andrew Scot Bolsinger

     The final issue of a pioneer magazine that focused on its core audience of Blacks in America and expanded into the mainstream marketplace released its final print magazine on June 9.

    JET Magazine will revert to an entirely online presence following its final issue as it transitions to an all-digital format.

The front of its final printed magazine was an assortment of the most iconic covers.

    JET started as “The Weekly Negro News Magazine” in 1951. During its 63 years in print it grew in stature under a catchphrase; “If it isn’t in JET, it didn’t happen.”

In 1955 its shocking cover of the brutal murder of Emmitt Till catapulted the magazine into a national publication. Till was a 15-year-old kid who was murdered while visiting the south for reportedly speaking to a white woman in passing.

JET rose to prominence by its reporting on the civil rights era. The magazine chronicled the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The magazine bolstered its news presence with focus on Black fashions, current events and entertainment news.

It was the third largest publication for Black Americans. The plan is to have an annual “best of the JET” print issue in the years to come, according to a story in the New York Times.

JET Mag’s new app — available on all tablet and mo-bile devices — launched June 30, and has an EBONY and JET digital store as well as new interactive features in addition to their usual content, according to a story on The Huffington Post.