Harry McCracken quits PC World over fight for editorial integrity
Hard to believe it ever came to this for such a high profile figure in tech publishing as PC World’s Harry McCracken, but Wired’s Epicenter is reporting that Harry McCracken has quit PC World in a scuffle over the very editorial integrity of his publication. Apparently IDG’s new CEO Colin Crawford demanded Harry kill an in-progress (and obviously titled) article dubbed “Ten Things We Hate About Apple” because it wasn’t advertiser-friendly. (IDG also owns Macworld, if that tells you anything.) So Harry stood up for his — and every journalist’s and blogger’s — editorial integrity and walked out.
Pete did a great job of summing up the significance of this, especially in light of Engadget’s 2005 AOL acquisition. Aside, it’s still a common question I get, though; just how much interaction does Engadget’s editorial staff have with the advertising end of the business? The answer is simple: none. Nothing’s changed. We have a strict separation between advertising and editorial (alternately, “church and state”), and the standing MO is still basically that the moment anyone that AOL tries to tamper with our editorial, we walk.
So kudos to Harry for doing the right thing and leaving his baby behind. I can only hope the rest of the staff at PC World becomes emboldened by his actions and takes a stand with Crawford that puts the article, however advertiser un-friendly, back in the mag, and Harry back in his seat — that is, if he still wants to work for some suit that would have him leave over something as ridiculous and smarmy as pandering to advertisers.
[...] reactions from Peter Rojas and Ryan Block of Engadget, and from Kim Zetter at the Wired Blog Network. Tags: Harry+McCracken, PC+World, [...]
Pingback by PC World provides a lesson about editorial independence | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise | — Thursday, May 3, 2007 @ 3:09 am
I run up against this all the time while evangelizing Linux. Whomever I am “preaching” to pulls up some magazine article and goes “…See? According to Brand X magazine, Windows Vista is superior to Linux!”
Then I take the magazine and show that person the full color, three page pull-out advertisement for Vista.
Good journalism always involves voluntary disclosure, but if the writer’s employer has abandon journalistic integrity for a some short-term cash, there’s little one can do but quit.
Has AOL ever tried to strong-arm you Ryan?
Comment by Todd — Thursday, May 3, 2007 @ 4:35 am
Absolutely not. As I said, people would know if there was any behind the scenes funny business. Myself, nor Peter, would not stand for anyone tampering with our work.
Comment by Ryan Block — Thursday, May 3, 2007 @ 7:02 am
We’ve been really lucky to not have this sort of problem in Weblogs, and I know you and Peter would have been long gone at the first sign of this type of shenanigans. Good for Harry. While Scoble gets beat up over merely talking about this, my experience with IDG in general hasn’t been too pleasant. I wish them well in the future.
Comment by Victor — Thursday, May 3, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
[...] decision and the note how seriously they take editorial standards such as this. See reaction from Ryan Block and Peter [...]
Pingback by Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation and the Web » Blog Archive » The Divide Between Editorial and Advertising — Friday, May 4, 2007 @ 1:15 am
[...] like the article over which Harry McCracken drew the line in the sand has been released in PC World. Apparently it was split into two: “Ten things we love about [...]
Pingback by PC World loves/hates ten things about Apple; I hate one thing about IDG » Ryan Block — Monday, May 7, 2007 @ 11:35 am
[...] of PC World (and given a VP title along with it), while (former) CEO Colin Crawford, instigator of the situation that found Harry ousted, has been busted down to EVP. Talking with Harry via email, he mentioned, “IDG has been [...]
Pingback by McCracken is backen » Ryan Block — Wednesday, May 9, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
[...] αφορμή όσα έχουν συμβεί τον τελευταίο καιρό με την παραίτηση του McCracken από το PC World για δεοντολογικά θέματα αλλά και την επιστροφή του, είναι μια καλή ευκαιρία να θυμήσω και να [...]
Pingback by Blogging την αλήθεια - pestaola.gr — Friday, May 11, 2007 @ 10:41 am
[...] events transpire and my support for Jeff Gerstmann knows no bounds. But in many ways — like McCrackengate — I’m actually really glad this happened in time to remind everyone, the audience [...]
Pingback by Hard times for internet biggies » Ryan Block — Tuesday, December 4, 2007 @ 4:32 pm