Dan:
The national magazines have greater resources and the pull of a wider variety of advertisers to sustain themselves. If one big advertiser or even a few dropped GD or GM there would be others to come forward.
Take The Jersey Golfer -- we are completely dependent on advertising revenue from the immediate area. Yes, we might get ads from Pennsy and / or NY resorts that want to have Jersey golfers come there and play those courses. But, for the most part, we have to deal with a much smaller base of operations.
Fortunately, because we strive (forgive again my plug) to cover the major stories in Jersey golf we have developed a readership that respects what we try to do. Our style has been and continues to be one thing -- be fair and accurate.
I also believe that since I as editor and Lowell Schmidt as publisher have worked together for so long (over 11 years) we have come forward with stories you just would not see in many regional magazines (to wit -- the firing of former Baltusrol superintendent Joe Flaherty; a face-to-face Q&A with former PV Chairman Ernie Ransome and a host of other leading Jersey figures in golf over the last number of years; the design greatness of Charles Banks; why women get second hand treatment at many private clubs; the most in-depth ratings of all Jersey courses on a biennial basis; the upcoming restoration article we did on Plainfield; the best professional advice on how to play golf with David Glenz -- one of the nation's premier teachers.
Does that mean we have not suffered in some ways because of our desire to go after the top stories? Yes, we have. In fact, I wrote a column not too long ago trying to explain the differences between "advertorial" and "editorial." The point was to highlight not only to advertisers but to readers the constant pressure regional magazines face in order to keep going.
Any time we do a course review and that particular course does not get a "high" rating in the mind of the owner we hear about it. We have had as they say in the State Department a "frank" discussion with a number of people on why we wrote what we did. When we see golf course owners charging people in excess of $75 to play a course that has temporary greens and they don't tell you that PRIOR to paying ... that is absolutely ripping the public off and someone or some publication needs to say that.
Dan, many regional publications are nice ventures by people who want to make a living (or try to!) on the subject of golf. They also know that to be completely frank OR close to being candid on their coverage carries greater risk than playing safe and writing these vanilla softball pieces you always see. These are not golf magazines in my mind -- they are wonderfuil fairy tales meant to entertain the reader. They rarely, if ever, inform the reader!
The national magazines, from what I see, still possess the wherewithal to take clear stands on a host of issues. But, as I stated before, the driving force for national magazines is to build revenue for all other aspects connected to their empire. Golf Digest rakes in plenty of dough for its schools through the magazine. As a result, instruction is the cornerstone of the publication as it is with Golf Magazine. Still, the national magazines can take on controversial issues (albeit not in the same manner as say Sports Illustrated and its Golf Plus section) but you often see less rather than more. I credit Golf World and GolfWeek for being able to delve into a range of topics that can inform the core golfer.
Craig:
We enjoy the fray! The publisher and myself really do enjoy taking forward stories of real interest. I can tell you from first hand experience it's never easy.
When we started doing Q&A interviews we had them completely taped and a friend of mine who is a court reporter transcribed them to keep the interviewee from saying down the road they did not say one particular thing or another. In fact, we actually send the transcript to the person before printing it so that any errors can be eliminated.
However, we will not pull something someone said just because they want to avoid seeing it in print. In my mind, they should have thought about that before opening their mouth. That's no less a standard than what you see in other major pubs that have Q&A's like Playboy.
We are not out to get anyone or anything. But, we do want to publish golf stories / features that make people think and make people understand why golf is such a grand game.
Honesty is what everyone says they want -- but really few people desire it. We will not tackle controversial stories unless we have a number of credible sources we believe are iron clad.
New Jersey is fortunate to have so many grand courses and wonderful people drawn to golf. Our agenda is to print golf stories that inform, that make you laugh and make you think. Yes, we do have opinions and we aren't bashful in saying so. But, we never take on a subject with a mean spirited edge.
Regional publications can offer so much but few of them really want to venture into the deep water. Their sole purpose is to keep publishing the "lite" stories because the ad dollars will keep on coming.
Jersey Golfer succeeds at a low level in comparison to the larger regional publications such as Washington Golf Monthly, and a few others. We believe our "voice" is different than others and is appreciated by those who value diversity rather than blind allegiance to the daily drumbeat of pablum type PR pieces you see in so many magazines. I don't call them golf magazines -- they are merely prostitutes who collect $$ for a particular service.
Sorry for the long winded chest beating. I can only hope we at Jersey Golfer will be able to survive what looks to be a very tough and prolonged recession. To our loyal advertisers and readers I say thank you.
Regards,