Magazines and newspapers repackage their archives

Newspaper and magazine archives conjure up images of dusty stacks of yellowing newsprint or bulky microfiche readers. The New Yorker’s office at One World Trade Center contains a version of this: file cabinets of index cards dating back to 1925 organised by topic, from Richard Nixon to wishing wells; scrapbooks filled with clippings by authors from Alice Munro to Vladimir Nabokov. But back issues are getting a fresh digital life as publications tap their archives to attract new readers, add context to current stories and increase time spent on their sites -- and perhaps advertising revenue.

“Suddenly, magazines have a backlist,” says Adam Moss, editor of New York magazine. Catalogues have long played an important role in music and film, where sales and licensing rights provide revenue over decades. Magazines repackage their work into books, such as the New Yorker’s cartoon compendiums and Rolling Stone’s collection of interviews. Digital news archives have typically been available to subscribers and academics. At the New Yorker, every article since 2007 is online, along with many older stories, and complete issues of the magazine are available in searchable digital replicas.