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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Duckslayer100" data-source="post: 97733" data-attributes="member: 1485">As someone who used to be in the magazine biz, I feel your pain. What you describes happens everywhere. Even nonprofits (Delta Waterfowl, DU, PF, etc.) kneel to the almighty dollar. Unless it's bought and paid for by someone or some company, it doesn't get ink.But I don't think all is lost, because even though most stories and product information is ultimately biased, you can still read between the lines to get good information. Most of the times when I write an article with the caveat to "mention such-and-such product at least once," that's exactly what I do. I go about researching, interviewing and writing the subject as objective as possible, and then work in the little morsel of advertising medicine so the sponsors stay happy. I know it's a tough pill to swallow when you read something like, "...the ducks cupped hard over the Arkansas timber and into the whipping wind, their wings humming in unison like a marching bad whistling Dixie. We let them get close, once, twice and then, on the third pass, let loose with our Benelli Super Black Eagle IIs and Federal 3-inch Black Cloud ammunition."Gag me, I know. I apologize. There's a lot of blame to go around. It's a problem of the snake eating its own tail. Publishing companies need more revenue despite stagnating or dropping subscription numbers and competition between other media markets. And even if subscriptions are doing ok, they still might not cover the overhead since the cost of printing and delivering continues to creep up and up, despite the fact they can't raise subscription rates without hemorrhaging readership. The solution, unfortunately, is more sponsors, more advertisers, and more in-you-face product placement. I think if you're looking for stories built on pureness and objectivity, you'll pay the price. Gray's Sporting Journal is an excellent example. Incredible imagery and stories worthy of reading and re-reading, but the cover price is that of a hard-cover novel. Then again, for the price of a Super Value Meal, you can pick up In-Fishermen and, well, there you go. You'll have to do a bit more work to get the same out of a story, but I think the information you've come to rely on is still there. My 2 cents, for what it's worth.</blockquote>

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