Magazines: New Twist in the New York Mag Issue

[Alexandra]

Please do not become distracted by Miller's FIFTH version of her standard response, when it suddenly occurred to her that it sounded better to say she was replacing Tobias rather than cutting dance reviews. If that had been the intention, that would have been the initial statement. It was not. It took two weeks for the position to evolve to the "replace" "new voice," etc.

 

Calliope, if the initial statement had been that New York wanted a new, peppy, lively, uninformed voice that wouldn't bother its readers with references that assume more than a 5th grade education, you're right. It wouldn't have been any of our business, and there wouldn't have been any public protest. That's not what happened here. They are cutting the dance reviews. Period. If they rethink this -- and we won't know until next year -- that's another issue to be dealt with then.

 

LMCTech, the issue you raised was raised early on -- check up near the top of this thread. I don't know of many people who now believe that outside pressure from dance companies had anything to do with this decision and, in fact, people connected with the companies that, shall we say, did not always receive positive reviews in New York magazine were just as upset as those who enjoyed those less than favorable reviews. I also think that whatever a company, choreographer, artist, thinks privately about a particular critic, they don't want to lose coverage. They're grown ups.

[Mel Johnson]

Alexandra is right about the indifference of companies to the reviews they receive, whether good or bad. Most seem to subscribe to the ancient law of Public Relations, "Love me or hate me, but dammit, SPELL MY NAME RIGHT!"

 

Editors receiving protests from companies which receive negative reviews can take pride that they've broken through a major shell, and caused response from an unexpected quarter, and if any protests were launched from a company over a critic's writing, the editor should be able to go on at least a three-day kvell!

[dirac]

I will admit cheerfully to knowing nothing about Yesselman or Jacobs except from what I could gather from their letter. That in itself was quite sufficient, however.