PC World Accused of Inflating Circ

I was dismayed to read in Folio: magazine that PC World is being sued for allegedly inflating its circulation numbers.

PC World is part of IDG, which I've always considered to be a trustworthy brand. Its publications tend to be notable for their editorial quality. Many of them have repeatedly won ASBPE awards, and company founder Pat McGovern was ASBPE's 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award winner, largely due to his reputation for editorial integrity. (PC World is also one of the few B2B pubs to post its code of editorial ethics — the code for all IDG publications — on its site.)

If the allegations in the lawsuit are proved true, not only will PC World's business practices be impugned, but its editorial integrity is likely to be doubted as well. IDG is famous for having magazines that act almost as separate companies, but if the case ends with a verdict agains PC World, the reputation of all IDG publications will likely suffer as a result.
Comments:
Hi Martha,
This is very disappointing news. If nothing else, it must be embarrassing to a lot of talented folks at IDG.
I'm going to reserve judgment, for now, I'll assume that nothing unseemly has happened. I'm going to act as if this is just a misunderstanding of some kind. And I'll hope that if my optimism is unfounded and someone at IDG has done something wrong, that they are fired promptly.
# posted by Blogger Unknown : April 29, 2006 8:55 AM
 
Post a Comment



<< Home