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I think we always have to ask the media questions about representation. That being said, are you speaking of mainstream magazines only?
Most fashion magazines don't put models on their covers anymore, they want celebrities, specifically actresses/actors with high profiles. They especially like to put these people on covers when they have something to promote, like a new film or television show (or sometimes album, but there aren't many musicians who make it to the cover of fashion rags).
There just aren't that many non-white celebrities who have the profile of, say, Jennifer Aniston, or Angelina Jolie. The one with the highest profile of all is on the cover of her own magazine. There are lots of musicians with a high profile, but as I said before, the only female musician who had a large, mainstream profile this year was Gwen Stefani, thus you saw her on lots of covers.
I think that mostly the magazine industry is driven by circulation. If there were suddenly a new hot black/latina/asian actress or actor who was known widely enough in mainstream consciousness, I'm sure you'd see that person on the cover of lots of magazines. But still that begs the question: why aren't people of color considered as "marketable" as other celebrities?
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