Excellent idea, Ron. I hope they take you up on the offer. I especially enjoyed your point, "QST is in business to sell advertising and to promulgate any initiative which increases advertising revenue regardless of how it affects the membership."
I wonder how many people noticed the "fake article" advertisement in a recent QST... here's a recent discussions about it... - - - - - - - - Good Morning - On page 29 of the October, 2007, QST, I was disappointed to see a Kenwood advertisement deliberately made to appear to be a QST feature article. The layout, font choices, even the use of a large, colored drop-cap character at the start of the story - all were aimed at misleading the reader into thinking the page is a QST article rather than an advertisement. This old trick is unworthy of QST. Steve WD8DAS - - - - - - - - To which Debra Jahnke of QST responded: >I am sorry that you were unhappy with the Kenwood advertorial. >As you know, an advertorial is an advertisement designed to >simulate editorial content, while at the same time offering valid >information to prospective buyers, and is an accepted advertising >practice. Our internal rules dictate the company uses their full >logo and their contact information in addition to the word >“Advertising” on the page. Most mainstream magazine >advertorial rules are not as stringent. That is fine for mainstream magazines. But QST has more at stake as the journal of the ARRL. Over the years extensive efforts have been made to ensure fairness and truth in the reviews of amateur equipment in QST, hopefully unbiased by corporate pressure or propaganda, and this sort of deliberately misleading advertising un-does all that work. It introduces a question in the mind of the members and readers: "Is this article or review really unbiased?" Or, "is it just a paid advertisement or press release piece?" >However, you are certainly entitled to your opinion regarding >this form of advertising Actually, as a long-time member of the ARRL I hope I am entitled to a bit more than just my opinion. -grin- I expect my views to be considered in the policies of the league and its publications. Thanks for your response... Steve Johnston, WD8DAS ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:[email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.
