Jet (magazine)
February 14, 1952, cover with Acquanetta | |
| Former editors | Mitzi Miller, Mira Lowe, Sylvia P. Flanagan, Robert E. Johnson |
|---|---|
| Categories | News magazine |
| Frequency | online, formerly a print weekly |
| Publisher | Ebony Media Operations, LLC (2016–present) Johnson Publishing Company (1951–2016) |
| Total circulation (June, 2014) | (June 2012) 1.1 million 720,000 |
| Founder | John H. Johnson |
| First issue | November 1, 1951 |
| Final issue | June 2014 (print) continuing in digital (2014) |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Language | English |
| Website | jetmag |
| ISSN | 0021-5996 |
| OCLC | 1781708 |
Jet is an American weekly digital magazine focusing on news, culture, and entertainment related to the African-American community. Founded in print by John H. Johnson in November 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, the magazine was billed as "The Weekly Negro News Magazine". As publisher, the Johnson Publishing Company created Jet magazine to offer Black Americans proper representation, noting under-representation of African Americans in the general media. Jet chronicled the civil rights movement from its earliest years, including the murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the activities of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Jet was printed from November 1, 1951, in digest-sized format in all or mostly black-and-white until its December 27, 1999, issue. In 2009, Jet expanded one of the weekly issues to a double issue published once each month. Johnson Publishing Company struggled with the same loss of circulation and advertising as other magazines and newspapers in the digital age, and the final print issue of Jet was published on June 23, 2014, continuing solely as a digital magazine app. In 2016, Johnson Publishing sold Jet and its sister publication Ebony to private equity firm Clear View Group. As of the date of sale, the publishing company is known as Ebony Media Corporation.