[Paddlewise] Paddler Magazine's goof-up and mine

Howdy Y'all,

I erroneously reported in a previous posting to Paddlewise that Paddler
Magazine failed to print a retraction for their extremely ridiculous piece
in their Sept/Oct issue titled "Sea Canoe Battles Corruption".  In that
issue, John "Caveman" Gray fantasized that, "They (me and my former
associates at Sea Canoe) want to take over the company and run it under the
corruption of the mafia, perhaps in partnership with them."

Paddler did print the retraction, but I didn't see the retraction right
away. They put it on a page other than the one where my former partners and
I wrote in Paddler's Hot Line section... slightly exculpating on their part.
I don't think that most people, after reading our letter, would quickly
thumb through to see if Paddler admitted any wrong-doing.  Our livelihoods
depend on opinions and perceptions to some degree.  The potential harm that
the piece caused is not necessarily a calculable point.  It could just as
likely turn off potential clients of ours by the very 'possibility' of it
being even 'remotely' true.

I wonder if Paddler even tried to contact us?  We're just on the other side
of the world... shucks, we even have email over here in the jungles of
Thailand.  I wonder if they thought to ask Mr. Gray what our names were?
They should have refused to publish his words without giving us a chance to
tell them the facts. I believe this falls under Journalism 101!

I am also disconsolated by their choice of locations in the Ooops! Section
(in the Nov/Dec issue)… just below Charlie not getting his name attached to
his face or for Richard not getting credit for the shot.  I'm sure it's a
big deal to them, but I wonder if the screw-up could actually cost them
future income, and more importantly, the chance to meet some new
friends/guests like it possibly has to us.

They didn't seem to think that the retraction was important enough to put on
your website like they did with the original piece.  Maybe there are people
out there who actually read the online version of Paddler and not the
magazine itself.  These would likely be people living overseas.  Since they
failed to put the retraction and our letter on your website, there could
still be people out there in the cyber world who think that we are mafia
hitmen.

I have cancelled my subscription of course.  I wonder how many other
articles in Paddler are based entirely on the imagination of an author.

Sincerely,
Dave

Dave Williams, Director

dave_at_paddleasia.com
http://paddleasia.com

Phuket, Thailand


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