Are knife magazines truly made for the knife community?

ddd

ddd

Joined
Apr 6, 2003
Messages
2,498
Are knife magazines really made for the knife community by people who
care for the interests of their readers, giving them mainly knife related
unbiassed news and articles?

Making a profit from ads, subscriptions and bookstore/newsstands sales
is totally legitimate, but do the editors/publishers also have motives to
deny their readers certain information while promoting other (paying?)
subjects?

I know this is a provocation but many facts indicate that much of this is true.

Anyone have similar experiences?

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
Unfortunately it is all about the bottom line. Coverage for large advertisers is the rule.

It would be lovely if the magazine could be entirely unbiased and free to cover whatever the readers expressed an interest in but that magazine would be destined to financial disaster.
 
The commercial aspects of publishing a magazine are almost always going to have some kind of an effect the editorial content. That will be true to a greater or lesser degree. That's why the only subscription I have is to Knife World. I find they do the best job of seperating the advertising from the editorial content. Unfortunately, they don't have the fantastic photos that you find in the other mags.
 
I think it would be a mistake to assume that magazines exist in order to provide
'unbiased reporting'.

There is very obviously, (to me anyway) a great deal of content devoted to the promotion of those who pay.
It's a 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' type of thing.

Thinking that the 'best interests' of the readers is the paramount concern of ANY magazine should be tempered by the consideration of the fact that advertisers are also customers, only they have the money to create hype around their products, using the mag as a vehicle to further their ends.

All that the rest of us can do is write a letter to the editor;)
 
Magazine articles are as unbiased as 90% of the posts on internet forums!



Regards,

Stephen
 
I would agree that Knife World is the best publication around covering
all areas of knife collecting. It is and has been for a long time, the only
knife publication I subscribe to. I canceled my Blade and others a long
time ago just for the reason mentioned. They were basically just promoting
IMHO the advertisers products.

Rich
 
If you want unbiased articles then subscribe to Comsumer Reports. Hey maybe we need a Knife Consumer Reports..One that takes several folders from many makers and test them against each other and then each catagory of fixed blade! I do have to admit that I have read many very informative articles (how to) in two of the major knife publications,
 
Dr Darom, surely you must admit that, in this case, what you suggest applies to magazines also has an underlying aspect to the publication of books on knives, particularly those on singular makers.
 
The advertisers have had a productive influence on the collectible knife industry just as the publications have.
The bottom line is, just like most all worthwhile endeavors the publications need to be financed in one way or another.
 
Betzner,

Excellent point....that was the first thing that entered my head as well. Seemed almost hypocritical.

Stephen F,

Another Excellent point.

Kevin,

Third Excellent point....if the magazines don't turn a profit....they go away.

Rich S,

Knife World has it's bias and some controversy of its own.

I write for both Blade and Knives Illustrated. I have done article on both makers I work with and those I don't. Both editors with very few exceptions have let the articles go through as I have wrote them. I suspect they do the same with the other writers. As well all of the magazines welcome articles from makers, dealers and collectors. If you want to write an article, do so and submit it (always best to have professional photographs). Should they publish your article you will be paid and have the pleasure of knowing that people, like the ones on the Internet forums will be telling your friends you don't know what the hell you are talking about. This of course is touted the loudest by those sitting on the sidelines.

I personally know all four editors of the major US knife publications. All are stand up men. They do what they think is best for their magazine(s) and it's readership. All are knife people...especially Bruce Voyles and all have their area's of expertise.

That being said, I thought the same things as many of you. That was until I was educated by the editors as to what it takes to put out a publication. Balancing the wants of it's readership, providing quality article(s) written by those with verifiable credentials and getting enough advertising to pay the bills each month.

If as you say those who advertise get the ink. Then George, perhaps you should advertise and then you will get your share of the ink as well.
 
Charles L,

Consumer Reports is highly biased; just not towards any particular company. They also aren't below scaremongering.

ddd,

I have yet to find a magazine; not just cutlery ones; that hasn't been a catalog for products and services. Hopefully, the articles will educate, entertain, elighten, and enrich, but the bottom line is that most magazines are advertizement vehicles (as they should be).

What would you propose in place of current knife magazines?
 
betzner said:
Dr Darom, surely you must admit that, in this case, what you suggest applies to magazines also has an underlying aspect to the publication of books on knives, particularly those on singular makers.
Click to expand...

Hello betzner,

There actually is a big difference and I can give you several examples
that might help me illuminate this, taking my books on one hand and two
North American knife magazines on the other:

1. In my first series of 4 books on the world of custom knives and knifemaking,
I approached modern knifemakers who, in my opinion are worthy to have
their work displayed in them for future generations to enjoy. And chose these makers
because of the diversity of their working styles.
Some of them declined my offer. But I did not ignore their existence. That would
have been stupid (in my opinion at least), and you can therefore see knives by
Michael Walker and Ron Lake featured in my book on Folding Knives, or knives by
Bob Loveless and some others, featured in my book on Fixed-Blade Knives.

2. In my new series of books on individual makers I plan to display the lives, the
knifemaking processes and the knives of prominent world-class custom knifemakers
from the various modern custom knifemaking disciplines.
This again is my choice - my book. Here, the personality of the knifemakers, their
careers and impact on this world and their knifemaking discipline were main factors
I considered.

3. Knife Magazines are supposed to cater to the various interests of knifemakers and
knife collectors. They should supply their readers with news of interest to most of us. But
can quite legitimately post ads as much as they can. This and magazine sales should IMO
pay for unbiassed printing of all information their readers might seek in such a publication.
Regretfully it seems not to be so...
Now, I sent copies of ALL my books to the Editors of these magazines, requesting a few lines
of evaluation under "New Books" and a tiny picture of the cover. None of this happened!!
On top of it all, when meeting one of the editors face to face and asking if he received
one of the books (I paid $100 a few weeks earlier for FedEx and had conformation...),
he thought for a long moment and said, "Ah, yes". No thank you, and never a word in the
magazines and none of my books were returned.....

CORRECTION: When we paid for three half page color ads, one magazine agreed
to publish an article by Don Guild on my Fixed-Blade book.....

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
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I can say for myself I have received plenty of coverage in all the magazines and havent bought more than maybe 3-4 ads combined over the years, and those were sort of a thank you for the articles written on my knives. I have never been pressured to buy ads for exposure. This may not be the case with everyone but thats how its been for me.
I think the knife mags know whats good or not before they write about it, and to me it would be a waste of time to read about crappy knives to seem unbiased. Just my .02
 
Trace Rinaldi said:
I think the knife mags know whats good or not before they write about it, and to me it would be a waste of time to read about crappy knives to seem unbiased. Just my .02
Click to expand...

I doubt very much that thare is any knifemaker or collector that considers
my books as "crappy" knife related items........

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
Charles L said:
If you want unbiased articles then subscribe to Comsumer Reports. Hey maybe we need a Knife Consumer Reports..One that takes several folders from many makers and test them against each other and then each catagory of fixed blade! I do have to admit that I have read many very informative articles (how to) in two of the major knife publications,
Click to expand...
Ah yes, but if their reviews and ratings of other items are any indication, Consumer Reports would rate knives on how easily they opened or came out of the sheath and not much else. CR and others of their ilk are ratings guides for people who generally have little or no interest, knowlege or passion about the products they are buying, particularly when it comes to things like automobiles and particularly higher priced consumer electronics. (ease of programming the remote being just as important as the picture qulity and more important than sound) The fact thay Porsche is at the top of the J.D. Power ratings this year is as much of an aberation as it is a comment on Porsche's quality control. I probably has a lot to do with the fact that they have sold enough SUV's to typical J.D. Power respondents that they actually make a dent in the numbers...lol.
 
Forgive me if thats what you thought I meant. I have no idea if your book is good or not, as I have never seen or heard of it. BUT to think that knife mags only cover things they get paid to cover(buying ads) has not been my experience at all.
 
Lorien said:
I think it would be a mistake to assume that magazines exist in order to provide
'unbiased reporting'.

There is very obviously, (to me anyway) a great deal of content devoted to the promotion of those who pay.
It's a 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' type of thing.

Thinking that the 'best interests' of the readers is the paramount concern of ANY magazine should be tempered by the consideration of the fact that advertisers are also customers, only they have the money to create hype around their products, using the mag as a vehicle to further their ends.

All that the rest of us can do is write a letter to the editor;)
Click to expand...

I will go one step further. I''m not sure if the urban myth that the "press" either is or is supposed to be totally objective and unbiased started in the 60's, 50's or perhaps earlier, but it is just that....a myth. It has never been and never will be. And for every win they get, like Watergate, there is a time when they go out on a limb and are just flat wrong, like the Rosenberg case. BUT, that is okay because we have the First Amendement and I would rather have a press that is sometimes biased, wrong or both rather than have one beholding to the government. Trace mentioned that that he has never had to buy ads to get covergae. Good for you, but I say that your benefit is not a "moral victory" but a finalcial one. You got some fre advertsing......good for you. Barring that happening to me in the near future. I am perfectly willing to pay for coverage and if someone does a little write up on me because i make a decent looking product AND i am an advertiser, more the better.:thumbup::D
 
Stephen F said:
Magazine articles are as unbiased as 90% of the posts on internet forums!



Regards,

Stephen
Click to expand...


The biggest problem is that one small magazine cannot make enough profit to stand on its own, that is why mega magazine companies own all of the knife publications.
and yes, the bottom line is a big part of the equation.....but I know all the people who run BLADE, as well as Steve Dick, and I know all of them try very hard to put out the best publication they can within the confines that the higher ups have imposed.
 
ddd said:
I doubt very much that thare is any knifemaker or collector that considers
my books as "crappy" knife related items........

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
Click to expand...


Just to add my two cents as well, I think your books are outstanding and fill a void. I know you were not responding, here, to my earlier post, and just wanted to make clear my own opinion of your publications.

However, do you see your publications that cover only a single maker as solely documentary, without profit motive for you or the maker - or as good advertising for both - or as both motives?
 
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