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In Reply to: RE: The correct principle is that a rising tide raises all boats posted by Ralph on April 11, 2014 at 13:56:34
Ralph, I completely agree with your Car & Driver analogy - It would never fly.As for #4 on your list - Whew!
I don't know. That's some grassy knoll shit; But you would know better than I.Could you imagine if a reviewer was being pressured by a editor to do as you said because of advertising revenue, and it were caught on camera, tape, or witnessed by a co-worker? No more job for Mr. Editor because he would be hammered in the court of public opinion, not to mention the likelihood of prosecution under the various whistle blower protection laws.
I have dealt with this very thing where one of the employees that I represented as a local chairman put his hand in his sweatshirt pocket and hit record on his smart phone while the supervisor hung himself with words. The supervisor then veitamly denied that he would have ever have said such a thing. Now a he is a former supervisor.....
........I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes... until the main course.
Edits: 04/12/14Follow Ups:
Regarding #4, amongst manufacturers, certain magazines had developed a reputation of sorts for that practice about 20 years ago. I was told/warned by a friend of mine at ARC. I do not know whether that practice is still in play today.
But as a manufacturer, that is something you have to look at when you look at doing a review.
One thing I forgot was the possibility of a bad review on account of the manufacturer refusing to give the reviewer the product for free. I was in a room at CES years ago and saw that one play out- that is why Gryphon was not represented in the US for a number of years. What I saw was the reviewer threatening the manufacturer that if they did not give the product to him, that he would write a scathing review, which is what he did.
Ralph;
Thanks for shining a light on reviewing that most of us consumers would never know of, much less encounter.
The fact (I'll call it that since I am taking your word) that a reviewer requested a free product in lieu of a favorable review is awful for a couple of reasons.
1) That a reviewer would be so bold as to request such a thing tells me that type of thing has been done before. This may explain his/her lack of shame in doing so.
2) That a reviewer is in such bad shape financially that he/she has to resort to such tactics. I presume this is being done because either the reviewer cannot afford the gear, or he/she intends to sell the piece to subsidize their income.
It makes me wonder just how many audio reviewers are making a viable living from reviewing only, without the support of another income/job. I'm guessing less than 25 in the world, but I may be far off the mark - dunno?
By viable I mean;
1) Own a home.
2) Own a decent car.
3) Have a retirement plan/pension that does not include social security.
4) Able to have a health, dental and vision plan that is either employee sponsored, or one is able to earn enough to pay the hefty premium out of money earned from their income.
5) Take a vacation every year that is not audio (work) related.
My father in law told me many years ago that if what you do doesn't meet the above criteria then it's not a job - it's a hobby.
........I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes... until the main course.
-but it seems to me that there really aren't that may reviewers on the take. I've only seen it twice.
I think your father was on to something.
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