Hi Starfish
Do you belong to the LSN? (Excellent for moral support) They had a feature on the NICE guidelines for breast cancer in the latest edition of their quarterly magazine, which, incidentally, is very professionally produced (altho’ I do find the ads for compression garments featuring people who so obviously do not have lymphoedema a tad irritating. Sorry - wandering off topic).
I don’t feel too down on the people who contributed tho’. Journalists are notorious for just selecting bits and pieces, what will make the best copy. The ladies concerned might have had a good old rant about what had happened to them which was ignored as not fitting the image which Vita wanted to project. It’s all a bit of a propaganda machine, I fear…
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S
Would love to hear a reply from BCC on this feedback.
Posted on behalf of:
Mags Allison, Head of Publishing, writes,
Vita is enjoyed by many readers – 15,000 copies per issue go out – and the ‘women’s magazine style’ is deliberate, as many people prefer not to read lengthy or complex information, but may nevertheless learn something they didn’t know before from a short feature or someone else’s experience. As you’ve observed, it’s difficult to produce something that appeals to everybody, but we go to great lengths to involve people with breast cancer in all our communications, and the feedback Vita gets is overwhelmingly positive.
We also try to make sure that people only receive from us what they have requested, so anyone who wants to be removed from the Vita mailing list can email their details to <script type=“text/javascript”>eval(unescape(‘%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%70%75%62%6c%69%63%61%74%69%6f%6e%73%40%62%72%65%61%73%74%63%61%6e%63%65%72%63%61%72%65%2e%6f%72%67%2e%75%6b%22%3e%70%75%62%6c%69%63%61%74%69%6f%6e%73%40%62%72%65%61%73%74%63%61%6e%63%65%72%63%61%72%65%2e%6f%72%67%2e%75%6b%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b’))</script>
I can understand that it must be difficult to gauge a publication for such a diverse target audience.
But I do feel it’s regrettable that it was considered that a ‘Woman’s Own’ format was appropriate. For me it is superficial and lacking the necessary gravitas.
For every person who prefers ‘not to read lengthy or complex information’, there must be others who would like nothing better than to see aspects of breast cancer tackled in realistic and reasonable detail.
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So feedback about Vita is overwhelmingly positive. Odd then that those of us using the forums are not positive. I’d like to see some evidence of the positive feedback so we could all balance it with what has been said here.
Thinking about this agian. Please tell us the number of people who have praised the latest edition of Vita and please can we see their comments?
I note that you circulate 15,000 copies…mine arrives unsolicited (that’s fine, I want to see it and presume I get it as I’ve done bits and pieces of work with BCC.) To whom are the copies distributed? Could we have a breakdown please?
Jane
I hope Vita isn’t inferring 15,000 contented readers from a 15,000 circulation!
What percentage are bulk orders from BCNs and the like?
And does the postive feedback come from bc sufferers or health professionals?
Just a few thoughts…
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