A senior writer for CNET had resigned on Monday less than a couple hours after a report that CNET was barred from presenting an award to a company being sued by CBS which owns CNET. The writer said he had he no longer had confidence “that CBS is committed to editorial independence.” Mr. Sandoval announced his resignation on Twitter.
For those of you not up-to-date, CNET, the popular tech magazine/blog had given a “best in show” award for Dish’s Hopper at the annual CES convention. However, because CBS was involved in litigation against Dish Network, CBS had CNET take the product out of contention. The entire situation has caused uproar in the journalist community and you might have heard about it in the national news cycle.
Why are we talking about this on an aquatics site? Independence. Way back in the 1800’s when Reef Builders was founded, one of the major principals was to have freedom and independence to say what we want, when we want. This editorial independence allows us take a harder stance against products that could be better, services that outright stink, and occasionally we get to talk about illegal substances.
Reef Builders is not owned by some large media company including a print publication. Our advertising and editorial divisions are separate and we are not burdened by a large debt load from venture capitalists.
You see independence is a big deal, just ask John Adams.
