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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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In Reply to: "When a magazine depends almost solely on adv. dollars to survive this publication ceases to be objective" posted by Rob Doorack on February 25, 2012 at 17:58:05:
I have a friend who has been in publishing (not audio) as an editor and publisher for decades. He is an extremely bright guy, we were in high school at the same time and he got a perfect 1600 on his SATs. He laughs at the notion of an unbreachable firewall between advertising and journalism. His argument, and I think Gore Vidal made a similar one, is that there doesn't need to be any overt quid pro quo. The journalism staff, unless they are completely gormless, know who are the major advertisers and what kind of copy might adversely affect subscription rates. They have a seat at the table because they accept a tacit matrix of assumptions and perspective. It is wired into their subconscious and in the air they breathe.
Audio journalism tends to compound this tendency by virtue of the unusually high level of interaction between the reviewers and the companies producing the products under review. Factor in accommodation pricing, the occasional lunch or dinner, perhaps a trip to the factory, system set up help, other social interactions, etc. and claims that none of this, in any way, influences copy just doesn't pass the common sense test.
I'm not trying to make audio journalists out to be bad guys. I respect some members of the audio press and I think that most of them want to do a good job. I subscribed to HFN & RR, The Absolute Sound, Fi, Listener and several others and I still subscribe to Stereophile. I don't, however, believe in their unbiased objectivity any more than I believe in the tooth fairy.
"There are political consequences to remembering things that never happened and forgetting things that did." Ariel Levy
Edits: 02/28/12
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Follow Ups
- RE: "When a magazine depends almost solely on adv. dollars to survive this publication ceases to be objective" - plantsman 18:47:57 02/27/12 (9)
- "It is wired into their subconscious and in the air they breathe" - Rob Doorack 16:56:39 02/29/12 (8)
- RE: "It is wired into their subconscious and in the air they breathe" - plantsman 04:14:31 03/01/12 (7)
- Congratulations! - Rob Doorack 20:33:41 03/02/12 (4)
- Okay, I'm starting to lean toward simple - plantsman 02:42:56 03/03/12 (3)
- Shorter Plantsman: "I still can't explain how trade discounts cause false reviews" - Rob Doorack 18:32:55 03/03/12 (0)
- There are no unbiased experts. - Tony Lauck 15:08:56 03/03/12 (0)
- RE: Okay, I'm starting to lean toward simple - Analog Scott 09:31:15 03/03/12 (0)
- RE: "It is wired into their subconscious and in the air they breathe" - JNS 13:31:54 03/02/12 (1)
- RE: "It is wired into their subconscious and in the air they breathe" - Rob Doorack 19:28:39 03/02/12 (0)
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