Hikvision Pays For Trade Mag Editors China Trip

Bob, good points / questions!

Regarding Apple, if we were in their industry, we most certainly would be banned!

The way Apple structures it certainly biases reporting but, in fairness, most of that is fanboi fawning more than 'journalism'. There's definitely a business benefit for those who stay in good grace with Apple, because the reads of such posts are so high. Of course, Apple is the exception in terms of having that type of impact.

For us, it makes no difference if we are the first or last to hear about something. What we differentiate on is our deeper understanding, based on industry experience and hands on testing. As such, whether or not we are invited to pres events is irrelevant. And, as our recent skipping of ASIS shows, we feel they are mostly a time waster anyway.

As for reversing the approach, flying out a small team to each editor would definitely be far more expensive than flying the editors to the manufacturer's site. One editor a day (since most are in different cities) for 10 editors with a 3 person team, the costs are quite high. Also, less impressive than to show your own facilties and wine / dine them at your own site.

"'benefit' (If you call horrible plane travel and staring at hotel walls a benefit) "

I agree many / most manufacturers view it at that way but the average trade mag editor makes a fraction (literally) of what the average manufacturer makes and has far lower travel budget. As such, these are perks for them.

They have never had Shipley Donuts, or Jane and John Dough Pretzelachi's http://www.janeandjohndough.com/. I've known people to overnight these suckers all over the country and become instant rock stars...

I've come to the conclusion that the "media" people covering the security industry ultimately care very little about security or advancing the industry in general. Offer any of them a 10% raise to cover cattle futures, or a lucrative beat reporting on the Pine Wood Derby finals and they'd jump without looking back.

These people are "writers", not "journalists". Their job is to take information they are fed, with little depth of knowledge, and format that into something which can be wrapped in ads and sold.

50% greater turnout this year,

vs last year

though 90% reduction in women and 100% reduction of goodie bags :(