Lifestyle Journalism

Lifestyle sections generally were introduced into American daily newspapers in the 1970s and typically evolved from what had been styled as women’s pages. Despite an assumption that we can all [Page 943]identify what lifestyle might mean, most newspaper definitions are still in flux as editors seek to define what it is that readers might want to read (and what advertisers will support). Some papers have lifestyle sections that could be defined as entertainment or celebrity-driven—not much of a change in philosophy from the old women’s/society sections, which concentrated on the doings of the local rich and influential. Publishers sometimes include lifestyle sections separately or have them classified as part of feature pages. Sometimes they are not included in current staff listings at all; indeed, it ...