Reading a New Form of Writing: Literary Journals

Literary journals are a fairly new medium for writers and readers alike. They began appearing as publications on school campuses about 30 years ago and caught on; people wanted to submit their work to print just as people wanted to read these submissions. But it was only recently that literary journals moved to online sources; now an even wider variety of diverse journals is available.
When I began browsing through some literary journals a week or so ago for the first assignment, I was immediatley suprised by the sheer volume of journals available. Go to any search engine and the phrase "literary journal" brings up thousands of matches of both print publications and journals available exclusively online. The journals represent opposite ends of all spectrums from expensive journals to those available free and from dark, artistic writing to publications from primary schools.
What makes literary journals so popular, I ask? The vast amount available proves that there must be a high demand for this medium of print. Some of the journals I found online came with high gloss color pages and were not a bargin at up to 30 dollars an issue; who is willing to pay this? True, just as many journals were available freely or at least inexpensively, but this proves that these journals target a wide range of audiences.
Journals exist too that are so bizarre and specific in their subject manner that I must ask too, who is the audience reading them? Journals on specific science fiction topics or entirely on issues like hair do exist, though, which proves that they are read by someone. How fantastic, though, that certain journals have found a viod in what is being written and are filling the needs of some readers; I commend these journals which cater to a special few.
Are literary journals the new medium for writers? Print media is not a growing field because of the amount of information available from electronic sources. But literary journals have experienced so much success as a way to bring writers from different boundaries and backgrounds together. With journals moving online, the accessibility of reading them has whittled down to nothing. And these journals can now feature writers whose work would be inaccessible without the use of the internet; like a journal I found which features the work of out-of-country, out-of-touch foreigners whose writing has been translated to English. Journals have transitioned to electronic sources well, yet still maintained their value in print; take again the example of the 30 dollar edition someone must be willing to buy.
A quick check into the variety of literary journals available will suprise; it is like ebing shown into a bookstore where back rooms full of even more books keep opening and opneing. As you click through the Yahoo search results for literary journals, pages pile on more suprises.