Its been my observation that boat magazines, most recently
Passagemaker, have become less objective and critical of the boats or
equipment they review, and more likely to hide their limited criticism
between the lines or suppress it altogether to favor their advertisers.

Further, its my opinion that Passagemaker under the previous editorial
staff (Bill Parlatore) was a bit more willing to be critical.

Or was that just more opinionated?

Are there other magazines that do a better job?

Which also begs the question of what we can do as a group of educated
boaters to encourage magazines like Passagemaker to remain more
objective. Or should one of the purposes of PUP be to inject the
missing objectivity and criticism into our discussions?

Or am I barking up a tree that we can't possibly climb?

John Marshall
N55-20 Serendipity
Sequim Bay, WA

My thought on this is that ... these are tough times.

The boating industry is under siege. When the economy is soft, the first
things that consumers give up are luxury items such as second homes and
boats.

Similarly, when makers of marine products are under siege, the first thing
given up is the marketing budget.

The magazines would deny that they are under pressure from advertisers, but
I absolutely guarantee you that if an advertiser is tightening their ad
budget, the publications that don't support them will be evaluated with a
harsher eye, than those perceived as friendly. The editorial groups are
usually segregated from the advertising sales groups, and in good times, the
wall between them works. However, when the magazines are getting thinner,
and staff cutbacks are a palpable threat, cracks appear in the wall.

I suppose we could all get riled up when we see an obviously soft-ball
review. However, at this point in the ball game, I'm just hoping everyone
stays healthy and reaches the other side. My focus is on trying to think if
there is anything I can do to help an industry which has brought me so much
fun. I'd have a hard time criticizing them for 'being human.' My advice to
the industry would be, "Do what you got to do, and hang in there. This too
shall pass."

All of this said, I have not seen any P&L statement for any company, and
have not discussed financial health with any marine company. It's possible
that they are having record years for all I know. It wouldn't be the first
time I didn't know what I was talking about it. But, I do think these are
not the best of times...

-Ken Williams
Nordhavn 68, Sans Souci

You are right John. This is one I don't really have an answer for.

And, as you so well point out, I had forgotten, when I wrote my last
posting, that magazines are already under siege from another direction: the
Internet. Newspapers across the country are failing, and magazines are
struggling in every industry. Consumers are finding the answers to their
product questions on the net rather than in magazines. And, magazines are at
a huge disadvantage as compared to the net. Most major magazines have a cut
off, for editorial content, that is at least six weeks prior to the
publishing date. How do you compete with the internet, where the news is
only a few minutes old? No one has that figured out yet.

So ... magazines are being backed into a corner where ad dollars are tougher
and tougher to get, at a time when their content is often stale before it
reaches the consumer, and the consumer can get roughly the same information
free on the internet - especially if all they are doing is relaying company
infomercials.

As you said, the way they can add value is to offer editorial that can't be
gotten elsewhere, including product reviews that are unbiased, and dig deep.
They need to improve their product, and take the quality up a notch, while
revenue is declining, and management is grumbling about anything that might
irritate an advertiser.

It's a time when the editors most need to be doing real journalism, even
though they are getting pressure from above, and from the advertisers.
Biting the hand that feeds you, is easier said than done.

-Ken Williams
Nordhavn 68, Sans Souci

Both Ken and John make solid points. John used the word infomercial and part
of that word is what they can substitute for critical comments -
information. They need to overwhelm us with close-up photos and detailed
specs which exceed the level of detail on the manufacturer's sites. For
example, they don't have to say that a given Mainship's generator is
inaccessible; take a picture which demonstrates this. Battery switches in
the engine room? Photograph those and then show a boat with switches in the
pilothouse which operate remote relays. Practical Sailor often roams the
boat show docks and photographs good ideas. Passagemaker has had articles
written mostly by Steve D'Antonio about correct practices for installations
of mechanical and electrical components. Those would help you when
evaluating a boat.

The use of the equivalent of a canned spreadsheet with all the details of a
boat and its equipment would allow us to better compare different boats. The
idea of some calculations is good as they do appear in other publications
and there are tons of experts in Annapolis to show them how to do it. They
could also do interviews in which a third party criticizes various boats or
expresses opinions on industry trends. I'm thinking David Pascoe. {;*))

Ron Rogers