Wall between Editorial and Advertising

Last night at dinner I ran into a reporter for our local weekly paper. I'm sorry to hear that they had two rounds of cutbacks last week.

PC Magazine published its last print edition this month.

Times are tough for direct print media. It's harder than ever for me to convince people to pay for advertising. Print advertising is probably ineffective.

• If I want to buy something, I look online, not in print.
• The media that I respect do not allow advertising dollars to affect their editorial decisions, of course.

This means that if I do convince the people with the checkbooks to pay for print ads, the ads will probably not reach the buyers. Even if I spend, editors may still allow unfavorable coverage of my product.

That said, I bear in mind two things

• Print media are businesses, too. Subscription revenue does not pay their bills; without advertising, they sink.
• The editorial process gives direct print coverage and its online versions much more credibility than unedited usergroups and blogs like this one.

I believe in print media, and I believe in spending on advertising to support them. It's hard for advertisers to point to direct benefits, but if we allow our print media to sink, we have lost something important.

No Warden, No Revenue

When did NJ raise the size limit for fluke? Last time we went surf fishing (2006) it was 12", or a one-year-old fluke. We measured the 2 fluke we caught at 12". The game warden at the ramp, on the other hand, said they were undersized and stuck Lloyd with a hefty fine.

Yesterday the handout at the landing said that the new size limit was 18", or over three years old. We were not the only consternated anglers. Lloyd caught two beauties, one about 13" and the other 16", but he threw them back. People on neighboring boats were not so scrupulous, putting plenty of 12"ers into their live wells. Why wasn't the zealous warden fining them?

Attn, Governor Corzine: if you want to increase revenue or protect a commercially important finfish by raising the size limit and then fining people, you have to post a warden at the ramp to inspect their catches.

Fortunately, there are no limits for bluefish. Lloyd caught a 22" beauty and three others. They were delicious on the grill last night. Today I made a bouillabaisse of the sea robins and the dogfish.

With New Jersey's budget cutbacks, we are thankful that the Leonardo State Marina was open at all.