OXFORD, Miss. – Samir Husni, chair and professor of journalism at the
University of Mississippi, recently returned from a weeklong European
lecture tour, including stops in Belgium, Finland and The Netherlands.
Husni, internationally known as “Mr. Magazine,” kicked off his tour in Brussels, as guest speaker for Belgium’s newest magazine, Vitaya. He discussed “One Message, One Audience, Multi Channel: Reaching Today’s Busy Customer.”
Ann De Tremerie, editor in chief of Vitaya, said Husni was “No. 1” on her list of guest speakers for the magazine’s launch.
“Having the most famous magazine coach presenting a magazine which aims to be the coach to women seemed a unique opportunity to me,” Tremerie said. “Well, sometimes dreams come true.”
Husni said he was pleased to have been chosen to discuss “one message.”
“It is important to go after the customer regardless of which channel of communication you use, but it is equally important that the channels – magazines, Web sites or television – complement each other and send one message,” Husni said.
Media venues such as Hallmark Channel, Food Network, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and ESPN are all successful at reaching audiences through different channels, yet giving one message, he said.
After Belgium, Husni spent two days in Amsterdam discussing publishing in a down economy. He concluded his tour in Helsinki, lecturing at weekly magazine Grazia.
For more information on journalism education at UM, go to http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/journalism/.