Magazines

Harvard University's newest magazine may be called the H Bomb, but its topic is more anatomical than atomic. The sex magazine will be introduced this spring, complete with nude photographs and erotic articles. It is the brainchild of two female undergraduates who say the journal will be a literary and art magazine about sex.

Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. said Tuesday it was shutting down Inside TV magazine seven months after launching it. The final issue will hit newsstands Thursday. The company will eliminate Inside TV's 40 staff positions, said spokeswoman Eileen Murphy. The magazine, which sold for $1.99 per copy, did not sell well at newsstands, Murphy said.

Rodale Inc. of Emmaus, Pa., sold its Backpacker Magazine to Active Interest Media Inc. of El Segundo for an undisclosed amount, the companies said.

Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN Inc. announced that it would launch a monthly Spanish-language edition of ESPN the Magazine in partnership with Mexico's largest media company, Grupo Televisa. The magazine, which is scheduled to roll out in May, will be called ESPN Desportes. It will target the lucrative U.S. Latino market with coverage of international soccer, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, Caribbean and Mexican League baseball, boxing, auto racing and other sports.

The state's ethics enforcement agency has found no wrongdoing in its review of a complaint made four years ago against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in connection with a consulting contract he reached with a muscle magazine publisher days before he took office in 2003. The Fair Political Practices Commission, in a letter earlier this month, told a lawyer for the Republican governor that the complaint filed by the California Democratic Party is now closed. The contract with American Media Inc. was estimated to be worth up to $8 million over five years.

The company that publishes Car and Driver and Road & Track said Thursday that both magazines will now have one publisher but denied the move is a step toward combining the publications, as it recently did the nation's two largest motorcycling magazines. Hachette Magazines Inc., the U.S. unit of a giant French media concern, said Car and Driver publisher Donald M. Hufford will also hold that position at Road & Track.

Two of the nation's oldest religious magazines, American Baptist and Christian Herald, have ceased publication. Both the 115-year-old Christian Herald, based in Chappaqua, N.Y., and the 189-year-old American cited declining circulation.

Merchants who sell adult magazines will be required to use "blinder racks" to cover sexually explicit reading material, according to a new ordinance that received preliminary approval from the City Council this week. Council members voted unanimously to require retail outlets such as convenience and grocery stores to invest in "blinders" that will cover the lower two-thirds of magazine covers considered "harmful to minors."

For years, beauty and fashion magazines have been blamed for creating a culture in which girls hate their bodies and therefore diet incessantly and unhealthfully. Now, researchers at Brigham Young University have found indications that women's health and fitness magazines may also be contributing to this image problem. They surveyed nearly 500 high school girls on whether they used laxatives or diet pills, limited their daily calories or made themselves throw up after eating.

The Canadian government announced plans to prohibit foreign publications from selling ad space to Canadian advertisers in a bid to protect Canadian magazines from U.S. competition. It is intended to ensure that funds spent by Canadian companies on magazine advertising goes to Canadian publications, not to American and other foreign magazines that offer cheap rates in Canadian editions.