EDITOR’S COLUMN
We had planned to make this the “Media Issue” issue of for several months… I’m a print guy. I’ll admit that. I think that certain stories are meant to be read (and photos seen) while turning the pages in the comfort of an easy chair (or perhaps, in other certain seated situations). Just like I think some films are best experienced on the big screen.
yet an awful lot has happened recently that made me rethink the focus. Most significantly, as many of you know, the great outdoors editor of The Denver Post, Charlie Meyers, who was the “godfather” of this magazine and my mentor, passed away in early January. For a while, I was mentally paralyzed by the loss. And yet, I remember Charlie—the lifelong, “old school” newspaperman—explaining to me the importance of pressing ahead as a journalist, through deadlines, and mistakes, and writer’s block, and all that comes with this business.
AnglingTrade.com / March 2010
“Deeter,” he said, “the paper’s going to go out in the morning whether you’re in it or not.” In other words, the trick is to focus your time on finding ways to make the story happen, rather than expending that energy explaining why it cannot. That advice seems almost cruelly ironic in this day and age, when, in fact, many newspapers have ceased to print with the regularity of the sun rising in the east. Is the demise of the daily (and many magazines) a good thing or a bad thing, ultimately, for the consumer, and specifically the fly fishing audience? Depends on whom you ask. 6
But I’m not dumb enough to ignore the power of the Internet, and all the online options like web-zines, blogs, and the streaming video content to be found therein—no less than the movie studio exec. who understands the power of the Web, and Blu-Ray, and DVDs. There is, indeed, a time and a place for everything in the media world. The trick now, for a writer or editor, is understanding which “bucket” to drop your content in. Ultimately, the fact that consumers have an incredibly vast array of media options— from Facebook to The New York Times—is, I believe, a good thing. While some would argue that giving the “virtual microphone” to anyone who wants to say something waters down the quality of content, I’d argue that yes, the collective product might be weaker, but this paradigm now forces people who want to have their stuff read seriously to “up their game” in order to stand apart from the crowd. That’s no consolation, I know, for most writers, and certainly not for those of you trying to make sense of the ever-evolving, nebulous media world in the context of marketing your businesses. This issue of Angling Trade is meant the help you make sense of the media options available
to you. You have more opportunities in this regard than ever. Fly fishing, as a whole, has wonderful media avenues to pursue now. I would humbly suggest, however, that “opportunity” should not be confused for “alternatives.” This industry needs print, and video, and online—everything—to lift itself out of the doldrums. Forsaking one for the other, at this time, is foolish. Speaking of the industry… we’d be remiss if we didn’t cover the pressing issue of the day, which seems to be the International Fly Tackle Dealer trade show. Trust me, we cover it in these coming pages, from all sides. IFTD is, when you boil it all down, a public relations issue and a media topic, more than anything else. A detailed discussion, therefore, logically belongs in this edition. There are strong cases to be made on behalf of the show, and forceful arguments to be made in dissent. We’ll hit it from both sides, and we won’t be a mouthpiece for any one position. That’s what makes Angling Trade what it is… a journalistic forum. There is no other forum designed for retailers and manufacturers in the fly industry like this magazine. You know, of all the tributes paid to Charlie Meyers in recent weeks, I’ve been most struck by the people who found themselves at some point to be in Charlie’s journalistic crosshairs, but noted that, through it all, he was always fair, and honest, and right with what he wrote. Charlie, this magazine is indeed going out, on schedule. And we’ll be tough, and fair, and honest. Just like you would have insisted. And this issue is dedicated to you. at Kirk Deeter, editor