The media does not necessarily have to believe the truth of that which they print - there can be other imperatives. Here are a hypothetical couple.
Controvery - Stir up some arguments and people will write in defending/agreeing. That lets the media know there's someone out there, and they can show evidence to advertisers. I recall a noted gunwriter back in the 60's writing that the .45 auto was outmoded and useless - powerful stuff at the time. It generated reader response for months. The writer didn't mean it; the .45 was his favorite carry piece.
Customer support - In another thread, Sal Glesser of Spyderco explained the difference between "customer" and "end user." A magazine's customers are its advertisers. A knife magazine's customers are knife makers, many of whom have large stocks of yesterday's wonder steel, ATS-34. I have no way of knowing whether it happened, but it's possible that the magazine's knifemaker/customers appealed to the magazine for help in reducing the end-user pressure to move to a new steel while knifemaker current stocks of ATS-34 are still high.
Neither imperative is inherently bad. ATS-34 remains a good steel. Are there better? Assuredly. This forum is an incredible source of interest and knowledge, and we care passionately about the last 1% of performance. We do not, however, form the entire marketplace for knives, but the "cutting edge" of technology, so to speak, the "early adopters." Knifemakers do care about our opinions, because we significantly influence the mass of buyers, so the market will likely move our direction over time.
The faster knifemakers clean out their old stock, the better for us. In the meantime, we can buy the old, or wait for the new.
