Would you publish a bad product review of some company that's also sponsoring your website ? Will the fear that this vendor might withdraw their ad campaign from your blog for giving them bad publicity hold you back ?
Colin Crawford, the CEO of PC World Magazine, may have faced a similar dilemma when he prevented his editor Harry McCracken from publishing a story on Apple and Steve Jobs.
According to Kim Zetter at Wired, Harry had drafted a story titled "Ten Things We Hate About Apple" for the PCWorld print edition. When Colin stopped the story from going to press, Harry resigned from PC World.
Apparently Crawford also told editors that product reviews in the magazine were too critical of vendors, especially ones who advertise in the magazine, and that they had to start being nicer to advertisers.The news about Harry leaving PC World is not official yet and he probably wrote his last blog post on the PC World's Techlog yesterday.
Who do you think are more important - subscribers or the advertisers ? One Wired reader sums it best:
I am a PC World Subscriber, not a computer whiz, and I rely on the magazine and web site for accurate product reviews. This is not good news for me..only if Steve Bass stays will I keep renewing!Related: Why no tough questions for Mr Bill Gates
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