SRI wrote: > subscribers. In most business, it is important to maintain friendly > relations with your income sources (and others in the industry). Thus, the > editors and publishers of SK no doubt desire to maintain a good relationship > with the mftrs of kayaks. Plain and simple. It would be difficult to > maintain such a good relationship if SK decided to devote part of its > energies (and space) to really bashing any given kayak model(s). Mark, Your comments, as always are good and thought-provocking. One always has to maintain good relations with the industry. I find myself in this position with the folding kayak industry. I am friendly with all of the chief people and have broken bread with them and had them over to my home. Good relationships are important but in coverage of the industry's products, a publication has a greater responsibility to the reader than to the advertiser or industry. A case in point. I recently reviewed the Klepper Alulite in my newsletter. Since it had gotten such hype in so many magazines with photos and commentary right out of the press releases, I decided to give it a real thorough review. In some ways I held it to a higher standard because it was Klepper, a standard bearer of the trade. Also I decided to give it a full page sidebar comparison with the Feathercraft K-Light which is what the Alulite is squarely aimed at rather than into some little niche market. The review was tough. I went over my text several times to tone it down in order not to sound like I was bashing it. And, as is normal in my reviews, where I found a deficiency I often would indicate a remedy that the buyer could easily do. A committee of anonymous reviewers a la Sea Kayaker's approach could simply not do that. Only a dedicated, knowledgeable person in the field can with any credibility and credence. I got a call from the Klepper distributor. I was expecting that he would ream me but instead he asked for 35 copies of that issue in order to distribute at a trade show! A fair, honest review from a recognized expert (I am, for better or for worse) is worth a lot, more than pr stuff. I think that someone like Matt reviewing a hardshell would take basically the same tact that I do, i.e. not be belligerently bashing but rather act as the friend of the reader to explore high points and low points of a boat and where possible, with the latter, suggest small fixes that may work to improve those. Malicious reviews of a boat or a book or anything have no place in a responsible publication. One or two responsible, known knowledgeable experts will not be malicious but rather thoughtful in their approach to a review and readers would be the better for it. Again, I want to underline that I think that Sea Kayaker is a fine magazine. Like with Klepper, I am just holding it to a higher standard because it is so good. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Aug 12 2000 - 11:57:31 PDT
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