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For some years now, I have seen many magazines come and go. Either it's due to the publisher not spending enough money to advertise the existence of it or due to the lack of retailers giving it space on their shelves, but it is sad that more are not successful especially when it is a very good publication. I have, over the years, enthusiastically bought into these new magazines on a variety of subjects hoping that it would find enough fellow enthusiasts to make a go of it but: many did not.

With the advent of the World Wide Web, this wonder of the modern age can be a boon to these publications but it can also be the death of them too. Normal, I browse through an issue on the shelf to see if there is anything that will wet my appetite for the latest wonder in the technology world, cameras, computers et all, but lately I've noticed that these publications are shooting themselves in the proverbial foot (partly due to the cost of magazines now and partly due to them having little content and lots of blank spaces).

Take Whatdigitalcamera magazine; I saw a review in the latest issue; I almost bought the issue but as it was only one article that was of interest to me I thought I'd look on their web site first to see if it was there instead. To my surprise the full article was readily available to add to my Instapaper reading list, but 'wait a minute I hear you say!' You are adding to the possibility of that magazine dying, well yes, I could just be but it could also be argued that they themselves are 'shooting themselves in the foot' and causing their own death by their own hands.

Other publications from the same publisher does this too, Amateur Photographer which is the sister publication to Whatdigitalcamera does exactly the same allowing anyone to do exactly as I did, so why do the editors and publishers think this is a good idea by allowing this? I don't know but either they are unaware or just not doing their jobs right but it's happening now and probably with others too.

Morally I don't have a problem with what I have done, I do not consider it steeling (I would not do it if I thought it was) as they have posted the review for all to see plus, I have the option to read it online without some paywall blanking off the text, so I'm free to do so.

Publishers seem to think in different ways on how to stop the decline of there papers or magazines. The Independent's answer is to put The Independent online only doing away with the dead tree issue and to sell off the newspaper to a competitor. Others such as The National, a Scottish paper that came into being after the referendum, also has the daily news available to read in the same way as these magazines but with one big difference: you are limited to reading only five articles per month or ten if you register and sign in. It's a way to get your appetite wetted and hopefully have you toss a few coins their ways by buying the daily issues (I buy it occasionally) and that has worked well for them too.

So where do you morally stand on this issue, no pun intended, do you also download, rip, copy steal peruse or stand in the magazine shop reading the magazine before putting it back on the shelf: I have a clean conscience.

Author

James Ormiston

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