Hi-Fi Magazine Ethics

[sq225917]

ED sees opportunity to build a relationship with a potential advertiser/supplier of kit for review by using him to answer a question- frankly I'm surprised you even have an opinion on the topic, the guy is just filling pages with content from a dealer who actually has product that people are vaguely interested in. It's just an advertising rag FFS maybe it was part of the deal in buying their forum... ;-)

[synsei]

Honestly, if one doesn't agree with a particular publications methods then one isn't obliged to purchase it. If enough people feel the same way then the publication goes west, that's the theory of natural selection in action folks...

[jandl100]

I must admit that I was a bit shocked when I read Chris's 1st post here.
I did think that HFW had higher editorial and ethical standards than that.

I think a "letter to the editor" deserves independent advice, after all that would have been the whole point of writing to the mag for advice in the first place!

Having said that - it's all a bit bloody pointless, as even when they aren't giving a favoured dealer a leg-up, the mags usually just trot out the same old reccies for stuff that they happen to like at the time.

It's probably naive to expect anything else, though. Si is probably correct - it's all about filling out copy to entice further advertising funds.

[Mr Kipling]

Hi-Fi Answers/The Audiophile did it for yonks! A query was given to two dealers in a region, and their reply published. Sometimes the recommendations were similar and sometimes different. Sometimes a dealer would recommend something they didnt stock if they thouit it was the best option.

[The Grand Wazoo]

But that was a long running feature about dealerships around the country and the people involved knew that. This example is where someone has sought independent advice.

[sq225917]

No, they haven't sought independent advice, they asked a magazine- quite a different thing. I amazed anyone thinks otherwise.

[jandl100]

No, they haven't sought independent advice.

I think they have.

Whether or not they are being naive in expecting to actually get independent advice is another matter!

[Audioman]

I'm astounded HFW would be using a dealer (especialy the one in question). Apart from the risk of pushing his own products his industry experience and knowledge of alternatives out there is limited compared with the average specialist journalist. Noel must be desperately short of reviewers (DP has pinched some of them) to answer the queries. Frankly I have skipped the last couple of issues as I could see a deterioration since DP went. Unfortunately DP is hobbled by sticking to the H F Choice format in his new position so that has not improved enough to tempt me. HFN in general now provides the best journalism. The only reliable journo on HFW now is probably our own Beobloke.

[Audioman]

ED sees opportunity to build a relationship with a potential advertiser/supplier of kit for review by using him to answer a question- frankly I'm surprised you even have an opinion on the topic, the guy is just filling pages with content from a dealer who actually has product that people are vaguely interested in. It's just an advertising rag FFS maybe it was part of the deal in buying their forum... ;-)

A misinformed comment Simon. The forum said dealer purchased has now been sold to a third party and was owned by Peter Comeau previously. World Audio in it's original form became seperate from the mag many years ago in any case and was revived by Peter after it's original demise.

HFW in the past was quite divorced from the advertising practices you mention. In fact their devoting so much time to 'Old World' and promoting first the Garrard 401 and then Technics SL1200 would likely lose many main stream audio advertisers.

It has been more a hobbyist magazine rather than promoting the usual suspects with 5 star reviews. However there has been a worrying trend to giving consistent great reviews repeatedly to a few brands even if this is coincidental. I think they would be advised to keep a certain west country dealer/distributor a little more at arms length.

[morris_minor]

I took out a digital subscription to HFN a short while ago - after a break of decades - and my last subscription was to The Gramophone before the audio section of that splendid organ became a WTF outpost.

But in reality, can any audio advice from anywhere be independent? Everyone has their favourite kit and no-one has experience of everything available. Providing you accept that fact and filter the advice you get accordingly there's no problem.