PCWorld Forums: SHAME - PCWorld Forums

Editorial integrity is all any of us in journalism have to offer our customers. News of your editor in chief resigning over pressure from IDG involving magazine content is bad news for customers like me... and I'm sure will not do your business any good either.There are other computer magazines available. I'll be reading them instead of PCWORLD in the future.Ex-Customer

This magazine is supposed to be review based. Supposed to tell people if something works or should be avoided. MacWorld may be run by Steve Jobs but PCWorld is run by the consumers. I'm not sure if a magazine that worry's about whether or not something should be run because the advertisers might get offended has the consumers best interest in mind. Now is the time, Mr. CEO, to decide whom to worry about. It's us or them.Mr. Jody NicksCarrollton, Texas

This is a sad development. It makes me want to cancel my subscription. In one move, we have lost an independent voice. I could go on and on, but I want Colin Crawford to know that he is suddenly on the radar. Good for the editor, Harry McCracken, for standing up for principles. I'm sure the staff is in shock.From WIRED blog:PC World Editor Quits Over Apple Story Colleagues at my former outlet, PC World magazine, have told me that Editor-in-Chief Harry McCracken quit abruptly today because the company's new CEO, Colin Crawford, tried to kill a story about Apple and Steve Jobs.The piece, a whimsical article titled "Ten Things We Hate About Apple," was still in draft form when Crawford killed it. McCracken said no way and walked after Crawford refused to compromise. 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.Crawford was former CEO of MacWorld and only started at PC World about a month ago. According to the PC World source, when Crawford was working for the Mac magazine, Steve Jobs would call him up any time he had a problem with a story the magazine was running about Apple."Everybody is so proud of Harry but we're devastated that he's gone," said the source. "This is no way to run a magazine. But unfortunately, this looks like an indication of what we've got in store (from the new boss)."He added that everyone at the magazine was upset by the news. "There's supposed to be a party with the MacWorld people going on right now, but no one's going," he said.The source didn't know the specifics of what was in the story Crawford wanted to kill but said it was nothing new. "It was supposed to be light fare, just really innocuous stuff. The same kinds of things people have said about Apple before -- things that teased Steve Jobs," he said.I reached McCracken on his cell who, from the sound of the background noise, seemed to be leaving the MacWorld party as we talked.[Full Disclosure: Harry's my former boss at PC World and someone I greatly respect. He's a top-notch writer and one of the smartest editors I've worked with.]He didn't want to discuss the details of why he resigned but said he quit "because of some fundamental disagreements with Colin." He emphasized that he wasn't fired or forced out and holds no ill feelings toward the company."I've worked at IDG (parent company of PC World and MacWorld) for 16 years. It's been unbelievably good to me, and I have ten-thousand great memories so I'm not leaving an unhappy person."He said he actually resigned yesterday, but workers found out only about an hour ago. When asked what he'll do now he said, "I'm going to blog and freelance at least for a while. I'll probably write for PC World by the way. I want to make clear that I'm a huge admirer of what PC World does and I'm not leaving hoping that PC World will collapse with out me. I'm sure it won't collapse without me."PC World's loss is a gain for other publications. Wordsmithing, by the way, runs in McCracken's family. His sister is novelist Elizabeth McCracken.Above Story Originally Posted by Kim Zetter

I read PC World primarily for its reviews.Now why would I want to read reviews in a magazine that does not allow criticism of its advertisers?Goodbye, PC World. It has been a nice journey together.

I agree with the previous posts. PC Week is supposed to be an unbiased analyzer of computer related products, software and services, and Colin Crawford's his position violates the basic rules of not only objective journalism, but of media outlets consumers turn to for imformation about the technology industry. Crawford's position is akin to editors of the daily paper in South Bend killing a story that could put Notre Dame on probation or for the Tribune company to fire Cubs play by play announcers or Chicago Tribune writers who make critical but facutal comments about the Cubs, a team owned by the Tribune Corporation.Some media outlets have paid the price of reporting the news that's critical or embarassing to advertisers. Bad blood between Fry's electronics and The San Francisco Chronicle has cost that paper millions of dollars in advertising from Fry's.A decade ago the publisher of the LA Times said the firewall between the newsroom and the advertising suite should be torn down. Several years later that publisher resigned after the revelation that she had the Times had signed off on a revenue sharing deal that was key to the construction of the Staples Center. Top editors killed off stories and columns critical of the construction of the downtown stadium. As users of the LIsa, PC Jr, Wang laptops, NeXT and Windows ME can attest to, not everything that comes out of Seattle, Cupertino or Mountain View is the next great thing and we depend on the computer media to let us know what's the real deal and what's PR hype not worth consumers time and money. Maybe Crawford should go back to the universe of MacWorld where Jobs & Co. can do no wrong and MacWorld writers are homers for Apple....btw...for non sports fans out there homers are sports writers and broadcasters who unabashadly support the home team despite obvious flaws and poor performance.

By killing the Apple story, is PC World saying that Apple is perfect? Or was it just Colin Crawford saying that any non-positive story would make his job harder so it had to be killed? Well, I'm all for giving Colin Crawford less to do, if that's what will solve this problem. It sounds like he's spent entirely too much time lately climbing the wall between editorial and ad sales, so he must be exhausted. Take away his grappling hook and send him on a long vacation; while he's gone, someone can write a truthful and accurate story on Apple.Computer journalism sure is changing in the 21st century, and right now it doesn't look like the changes are good for PC World readers. IDG's definition of "new media" seems to include a direct connection between advertisers or favored companies and editorial coverage. You might expect to see that in "Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeler's Journal" but it has no place at PC World, not if editorial credibility means anything. If Colin stays and Harry goes, PC World's goals and priorities will be clear.

:xYour reviews and articles can no longer be trusted. I'll opt for ethics before money always and plan to never read your magazine again.

I agree that PC World should not be swayed by the fact that an advertiser may discontinue its business relationship with the magazine if it publishes a negative review. However, no one here has read the article in question (since it was never published), so let's not get emotional about this. Before I cancel my subscription, I want to know exactly what was in the article, why it was unsuitable for publication, and credible proof on whether PC World's future articles will, or will not be biased toward their core advertising revenue.As I've stated before on these forums, I really don't think that PC World's reviews are worth much (too subjective, and not enough depth... in my opinion), but I won't condemn them without knowing the whole truth.

MC,When a story is canned, you CANNOT read it. That is the definition of a story being tossed out in the media business.So don't hold your breath.

There may have been reasons other than a negative review, why the story was canned. It may have been Mac bashing just for the hell of it, with no real content. There may not have been enough data to support the writer's position. The writer may have been wrong, but backed himself into a position where he had no other option than to resign. The possibilities are endless. The magazine may indeed have committed a journalistic no-no, but we don't know for sure. Only time will tell.

Does anybody know who to contact to voice our displeasure over this recent event at PC World? I am very disturbed by this story. Folks the only way to stop this unethical behavior is to make our voices heard either through sending emails or by canceling our subscriptions. If we do nothing then you can forget about getting unbiased reviews on products. I plan to wait a few days to see what happens but if nothing is said by the top at PC World I will cancel my subscription. I would hate to cancel but I cant allow advertisers to dictate product reviews.

Please don't take no comment here as nobody listening or caring. I am watching here, and have sent a link to the thread to both Harry McCracken and Colin Crawford, so they are aware of it as well.

Since this post is being monitored I for one would like Mr. Crawford to post his reasons for what happened. Like it has been stated lets find out the facts. Don't give us a bunch of waffle. Give us the facts. Remember we are as smart as the people who run this magazine and we can tell a snow job.Mr. Jody NicksCarrollton, Texas

:cry: I have always preferred PC World to it's main competitor specifically because of what I perceived to be it's editorial independence. I hope PC World doesn't become just another computer rag.

Welcome to an already long list of irrelevant rags. You've just cost yourselves the only thing you ever had that mattered - the trust of your readers.Asshats.

The balance of journalistic integrity and marketing. I really liked Harry and it sucks that he's not going to be the editor in chief anymore. If he resigned for the reasons stated in the article posted in the 2nd (or so) post I applauded his integrity. I hope that pc world quality of content and accuracy of reviews, lets face it thats why its there. The magazine, isn't about the money, its about quality of content. I'll miss you Harry :cry:

I assume this has been swept under the rug as I haven't heard or seen anything on PC World. With that being said I have decided to cancel my subscription because of this. I have enjoyed reading the magazine for over 10 years or so but I no longer trust the magazine nor the reviews.

Harry McCracken has returned to his position as Editor in Chief of PC World. Colin Crawford will be leaving his post as CEO of PC World and Macworld, and returning to his former position. Read the article here. http://www.pcworld.c...,1/article.html

Fantastic Kellie.Thank you for keeping us subscribers informed!

You are welcome... happy to be of service. :)