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In Reply to: RE: Do you suppose... posted by regmac on February 24, 2015 at 15:15:22
>certain people at Stereophile wish they had done the decent thing and
>paid you on a timely basis?
Yes, as I explained, the November 2014 issue payments were more than 2
weeks late. However, the payments for the December 2014 issue of
Stereophile - the final issue to which Sam Tellig contributed - were made
on October 30, 2014, more than a week early. And yes, while there were
some occasional late payments to writers prior to the November 2014 issue,
I estimate that 98% of checks to writers were mailed in a timely manner
over the previous decades.
My routine has always been the same: the day after each issue has shipped
to the printer, I prepare payment advice letters that are mailed to the
writers, and a copy of each is submitted to the company's finance
department. As it takes about the same time for the issue to be printed
and mailed as it does for the finance department to do their thing, the
writers almost always receive a check around the same time the issue
reaches subscribers.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Follow Ups:
I’ll preface my remarks by noting that this is becoming a huge embarrassment for your magazine. I hope you and Sam can bury the hatchet sooner rather than later.
That said, Sam says late payments were a habitual practice over the course of several years. You say payments were made on time 98 percent of the time. Obviously one of you is gravely mistaken (to put it nicely). And on those occasions when payments were late I hope you went to bat for your writers and didn’t delegate that task to someone else as Sam has suggested.
Concerning your wife’s position at the magazine: as the media are always reminding us, it’s “the appearance of impropriety” that oftentimes does one in, and is therefore is to be avoided. It’s as if Barack Obama were to appoint Michelle as his Attorney General.
You have stated right here, on more than one occasion, that sunshine is the best disinfectant. Yet in all the years you have discussed Stereophile’s policies at this venue, I don’t recall you ever volunteering this information about your wife’s position. Perhaps I was on vacation that week.
I have heaped a fair amount of praise on you at this venue over the past 13 years regarding your integrity and professionalism. And because of that fact I find it disappointing that it took your feud with Sam to bring this new information to light concerning your wife’s duties at Sterophile.
...and as much as I appreciate transparency, I really don't think it does yourself or the magazine any benefit in letting the board know how you guys make the sausage. It's really none of our business how you conduct payroll.
That said, as others have noted, the appearance of impropriety in having your wife selling ads while you are editor of the same magazine is obvious on it's face. For myself, this is a more serious and relevant issue that actually is "our business".
Best post thus far!
> ..and as much as I appreciate transparency, I really don't think it does
> yourself or the magazine any benefit in letting the board know how you
> guys make the sausage. It's really none of our business how you conduct
> payroll.
I agree. But once the subject has been made the subject of public debate,
I think it necessary to put the record straight, even if that is seen as
inappropriate.
> That said, as others have noted, the appearance of impropriety in having
> your wife selling ads while you are editor of the same magazine is obvious
> on its face. For myself, this is a more serious and relevant issue that
> actually is "our business".
Again I agree. As I said this subject has occasionally been raised and I
have always addressed it. But the appearance is not the same as the
reality. When we decided to get married in 1987, Laura resigned from Audio
magazine and applied to run Stereophile's circulation department. But both
Ken Nelson and Stereophile's publisher Larry Archibald didn't want her to
do that. So we discussed what the ground rules would be and 27 years
later, we still adhere to those ground rules. As I said, our relationship
has never been a secret and you are welcome to ask anyone in the audio
industry if they know of any impropriety that has resulted from our
relationship.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Would Stereophile have hired my wife, Marina, to sell ads?
It just looks bad -- even though, JA runs Stereophile on the up-and-up. I think it compromises his Gravitas.
Hiring our cat to sell ads is a brilliant idea.
(By the way, I didn't bring this up. "Sprezza Tura" did.)
How do you know he runs this mag. on the up and up? He didnt even show you the respect to pay you in a timely manner. It certainly appears to me that the only people that really know what goes on at Stereophile are Atkinson and his wife.
"...you are welcome to ask anyone in the audio industry if they know of any impropriety that has resulted from our relationship."Well, as the 'audio industry' is where the advertisers are, of course they are not likely to object when the person they are buying ads from has a close relationship with the editor!
It's the READER who might have a question or two.
That said, I have no problem because I never gave two hoots about the mythological 'Chinese Wall' between the advertizing side and the editorial side, because both work for the publisher, and publishing has NEVER been as pure as it likes to pretend to be.
Look a the hubbub at the NYT over the recent firing of its Executive Editor Jill Abramson. Among her many problems, she had conflict with Chief Executive Mark Thompson over 'native advertising'. Which in its worst form is advertising that is hidden within or disguised as editorial content.
Party may be close to over for print publications, but it ain't the fault of Stereophile and who the Editor is married to.
Edits: 02/25/15 02/25/15
Does the Editor have a duty to his readers to disclose such information? A disclosure, indicates transparency of organization and yields higher legitimacy and trust in the reviews and in editorial decisions the magazine.; JA passed up a solid opportunity.
But those are 'industry people' who both submit product to himself and his writers for review and buy ads from his wife.
Them's his folks!
And it seems his folks ain't us folks.
Hey you seem to have great neuroplasticity!
Lumosity?
OTH maybe its just ethicoplasticity?
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