You seem to be painting all magazines with the same broad brush and without any documentation.
What do you have to say about Seaworthy from Boat US Insurance?
That is a bit unfair to paint them all that way and I believe the method of delivery, paper, versus the ease and lower cost of obtaining information on line was critical to the downfall of many. I also think he was generalizing and not necessarily saying all. But, yes, magazines and websites are subject to a careful balance of content and advertisers.
Separating the content side of your publishing from the advertising side is a constant battle. Why do you see no bad boat reviews in print or online? Just good, better and great. Because all the builders are potential advertisers. Nearly all websites depend on advertising. Nearly all publications. Consumer Reports being the primary example that doesn't.
Even a site that has reviews which are visitor opinions treads carefully. They have to allow legitimate bad reviews but they also have to be aware that competitors sometimes try to hurt a business and be prepared to handle the vicious unsupported comments.
There is absolutely nothing new about the impact of advertisers on publishers. In fact there was a time in which the reaction was probably stronger and more personal. If you want to see a huge conflict, go to a doctor's office and pick up all the free educational brochures. All done by pharmaceuticals.
Seaworthy is a different story. It's someone using a publication to promote themselves. Boat US uses it to promote their entire business and especially their insurance. But there is nothing in my opinion wrong with that. They are an aggressive organization selling a wide range of products and services. But the information in Seaworthy is also very useful.
And magazines can also have excellent content in spite of the fact advertisers are critical to them. As an example, they can write a great article talking about salvage costs and being sure you're adequately covered by your insurance. Then they will attempt to place an Insurance company ad right opposite the article. That doesn't mean the article isn't good or valuable. That's just good ad placement.
Look at product placement on television and in movies. It all started big time with ET. Reeses Pieces. M & M's made the huge mistake of turning that opportunity down. No one had heard of Reeses Pieces before.
The influence of advertisers is here with us, real, has been, will be. As consumers we just have to be wise to avoid the pitfalls of allowing it to unduly influence us. Take reviews of products with a degree of cynicism. But still you can pull useful information. Product characteristics to compare to competition. If I read a boat review on one of the major review sites online, I don't read to find out if they like it or not. I know they will. But I find out features, performance, and other things I might not otherwise know. Plus I pick up on any details that may expose something I don't like. For instance, I read a great review of a Hatteras 100 but it talks about the poor vision from the lower helm. Well, the Hatteras 60 has similar design and I'd worried about that on it. I've read great reviews that mention within the course all the teak and the work involved. Or tight engine rooms. I just know they're not going to say, "this is a bad boat, don't buy it."
