Thursday, May 3,2007 @ 8:05pm
Editor quits after PC Mag kills Apple story [updated]
[digg this] The much adored Mac and iPod maker is certainly the darling of the media and there are not many who can draw a crowd like its boss, Steve Jobs, but the Apple CEO's growing influence may extend to even PC-centric publications. A new report indicates that PC World Editor-in-Chief Harry McCracken quit this week because of differences over an upcoming editorial piece on Apple's Steve Jobs. Wired reports that McCracken quit abruptly today because the company's new CEO, Colin Crawford, tried to kill a whimsical article titled "Ten Things We Hate About Apple." Although it still was in draft form when Crawford killed it, the new exec, who has a close relationship to Steve Jobs, was unwilling to bend.
"McCracken said no way and walked after Crawford refused to compromise. Apparently Crawford also told editors that product reviews in the magazine were too critical of vendors, especially ones who advertise in the magazine, and that they had to start being nicer to advertisers," Wired wrote in its blog.
Crawford, who is a longtime friend of Jobs, was the former CEO of MacWorld and only started at PC World about a month ago, but the changes maybe pushing the already-blurring lines of advertising and editorial.
"When Crawford was working for the Mac magazine, Steve Jobs would call him up any time he had a problem with a story the magazine was running about Apple," a source told Wired.
"Everybody is so proud of Harry but we're devastated that he's gone," said the source. "This is no way to run a magazine. But unfortunately, this looks like an indication of what we've got in store (from the new boss)."
Officially, McCracken resigned after 12 years at the magazine and 16 years at publisher International Data Group citing over "disagreements with management," but declined to elaborate.
Update: While Crawford denied the allegations on his personal blog, other publications including CNET News.com have independently verified the initial report: "But three sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told CNET News.com that McCracken informed staffers in an afternoon meeting Wednesday that he decided to resign because Colin Crawford, senior vice president, online, at IDG Communications, was pressuring him to avoid stories that were critical of major advertisers."
"We have and will continue to run editorial and content that both praises and criticizes as appropriate without regard to the vendor relationship," Crawford wrote without criticizing McCracken.