A house organ (also variously known as an in-house magazine, in-house publication, house journal, shop paper, plant paper, or employee magazine) is a magazine or periodical published by a company for its customers or its employees. This name derives from the use of "organ" as referring to a periodical for a special interest group.
House organs come in two types, internal and external. An internal house organ is meant for consumption by the employees of the company as a channel of communication for the management. An external house organ is meant for consumption by the customers of the company, and may be either a free regular newsletter, or an actual commercial product in its own right.
An example of a commercial house organ is the Avalon Hill General. This had no outside advertising (usually a major portion of a magazine's budget). It featured news, strategy articles, variants, and essays on game design—all about Avalon Hill games.
Famous quotes containing the words house and/or organ:
“The ceaseless labor of your life is to build the house of death.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“And this mighty master of the organ of language, who knew its every stop and pipe, who could awaken at will the thin silver tones of its slenderest reeds or the solemn cadence of its deepest thunder, who could make it sing like a flute or roar like a cataract, he was born into a country without literature.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)