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RE: Nope, no hairs to split

<< Fremer would never have been reviewing Musical Fidelity gear at the same time that he was accepting ad payments at his independent website. >>

I rarely read Michael Fremer's website, so I was unaware of this. It is an interesting question, but I'm not sure I agree with your premise.

If I'm understanding you correctly, it's OK for Stereophile to accept advertisements because that money just goes into a big "kitty" whereby everyone's salary is paid. On the other hand, MF's website "MusicAngle.Com" is essentially a one-man show. Presumably you are implying that any advertising revenues from that website go directly into MF's pocket, and therefore one should not trust any reviews written by MF of equipment that is from one of the sponsors of MusicAngle.

I don't agree with your premise for several reasons.

If a reviewer is prone to be swayed by advertising dollars, what difference does one degree of separation make? In other words, all of the reviewers' salaries at Stereophile are indirectly paid by advertisers. So what difference would it make if the money goes first to SourceInterlink (current owners of Stereophile) before going into the reviewers' pocket? I would argue that it doesn't make a bit of difference. Either the reviewer is ethical or he isn't.

And don't get me started on the idea of "advertising free" publications. On the surface, the idea seems very attractive. But in reality, it just plain sucks. Here are a few examples:

a) Consumer Reports -- They are so clueless on so many topics that it is truly frightening. Rather than go into details here, just do a search on post authored by me with exact phrase "consumer reports".

b) Audio magaizines -- In the past, Stereophile and TAS were both free of advertisements. When they ended up accepting ads to maintain their ability to survive, I noticed no meaningful differences in the quality and/or bias of their reviews.

Other magazines have been free from ads, such as The Audio Critic and International Audio Review. The former ended up as a total joke when Peter Aczel started deceptively promoting his own speakers in the magazine. The latter ended up as a near total joke by giving rave reviews to companies that used his products (Wonder Caps, Wonder Wire, Wonder Solder, et cetera). Again, you have to either trust the reviewer or not.

Currently there are a couple of advertising-free magazines, both print and on-line. I've only read one issue of the Hi-Fi Critic, but was unimpressed. I didn't detect anything there that was inspiring or unusually outstanding. Even if they are not paid by manufacturers for ads, they are still dependent upon them for equipment loans. Do you think they will trash something and run the risk of never getting another piece of equipment loaned to them again? Also, most (all?) of those reviewers also write for other advertising supported magazines.

Then there is the case of Arthur Salvatore's website, whatever it is called. He makes a big stink about how "pure" he is and how "corrupt" the print magazines are (much as you have been doing). And then it turns out that at least some of his anonymous "associates" who perform reviews are actually *manufacturers*. And oddly enough, Salvatore's preferred reference speakers and amplifiers is made by the anonymous manufacturing "associate".

All-in-all, I'd say the advertising free publications have *worse* track record than the ones that accept advertising. If I had to guess, I would say that it is probably because the advertising-free enterprises tend to be small one-man shows. A person can fall prey to temptation, and there are no back-stops in place. On the other hand for Stereophile to be corrupt, there would have to be a secret conspiracy shared by a dozen or more people. As people come and go (and there is plenty of that in this business), then you would have to imagine that *none* of the ex-employees would spill the beans.

This didn't even happen in the Bush administration -- there have been at least a half-dozen tell-tale books documenting the problems and misbehaviors behind the scenes. And I would have to believe that Bush and his cronies have far more leverage over ex-employees than does JA.

Finally, I just went to the Music Angle website. There were three ads on the home page. One from Music Direct, one from Reference Recordings, and one from the Elusive Disc. There were no ads at all on the pages of the individual music reviews. Even in the most fevered imagination of conspiracy theories would ads from these companies affect anyone's equipment reviews. And let's say that in the past Musical Fidelity *did* buy advertising on the Music Angle. Those small ads typically cost around $500 a month or so. (I'm sure you can get the exact number from MF if you really care.) Do you really think that MF (or any other credible reviewer) would compromise his entire career for a few hundred dollars a month? I don't.

Again, the bottom line is that you either trust a person to be ethical or you don't. In short, I reject your premise, your insinuations, and your conclusions regarding the entire reviewing industry. In dealing with them for over 20 years, I have found (that with a very few exceptions) they are honest and trustworthy. When I have found the exceptions, I have made them public. In the last 10 years, the only ones I can think of are Valin and Salvatore. (Although I am still scratching my head over the fact that Valin wasn't fired by his superiors. I can only assume that they believed his story surrounding the sale of loaner cables, while I did not.)

If you want to pursue conspiracy theories, there is much lower-hanging fruit to be picked in the area of our current political administration, the health-care industry and the pharmaceutical giants, or even 9/11. For example, I would urge you to read a book called "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" to understand why many countries currently despise the US.

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  Kimber Kable  

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