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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: RE: The correct principle is that a rising tide raises all boats posted by Ralph on June 13, 2014 at 14:18:25:
It's perfectly possible to write an unethical negative review -- as an act of revenge or something, or as pure libel with a reckless disregard for the truth -- just as it's perfectly possible to write an unethical rave -- like if you're paid off or something, or even when you write a rave about a piece of gear you're living with on a long term lone, which is tantamount to a pay off.
But the very act of writing a negative review is in no way unethical, and it's often the only responsible act for the journalist. And to my way of thinking any overarching policy to only publish positive reviews is inherently compromised and does a disservice to the readership.
The primary ethical responsibility of the journalist is to the reader -- to inform the reader fully and truthfully. The ethical responsibility to the subject of the review is fairness.
Like I said, specialty interest publishers, like trade publishers, face inherently compromising positions because their sources and advertisers come from a common pool and because they rely on access to be able to produce their product. No doubt some people in those areas do a better job maintaining their integrity than others. It may well be that the specialty audio press is a cesspool of compromised ethics, or it may be that there are a mix of good and back practitioners at work in the area, just like any area of human endeavor.
News enterprises typically have codes of ethics that are written and that practitioners are expected to adhere to. It would be interesting to know if the likes of Stereophile or The Absolute Sound have formal codes of ethics. If not, they should just like The New York Times or any other news organization does. And as I said previously I think long-term loans, discount pricing for reviewers, etc. are inherently compromising and certainly create and appearance of conflict of interest and should be done away with if the audio press wants to be taken seriously as an independent entity. And I have no doubt that on occasion in the history of the audio press worse breaches of ethics have occurred. But in no way is a negative review inherently unethical. And in no way is the reviewer's responsibility when confronted with a substandard piece of gear to not inform the readers but instead just inform the manufacturer.
Jason Chervokas
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Follow Ups
- RE: The correct principle is that a rising tide raises all boats - chervokas 19:03:09 06/13/14 (0)
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