[Af_List] Wire

[David Borrie]

(R. Parlane, A. Milton) It's somewhat worrying to hear about this. Being as I've never tried to have anything reviewed in Wire before, it's news to me.
 
Editorially 'ring-fencing' ones advertisers and leaving the rest out in the cold could on the one hand be justified as a bloody-minded tactic by a struggling magazine to protect the interests of itself and of those similarly-imperilled musical entities it represents whose financial interests more closely align to its own, namely its advertisers. 
 
Which is a nice way to say 'selling out' in that it's motive is the survival of a magazine we'd all rather see in print than not, and not merely a desire to 'cash in'.
 
On the other hand are the ethical implications of a hugely influential publication bringing its financial self-interest to bear on the fragile and vulnerable 'ecosystem' of its putative subject, namely outsider music. For a magazine with as much influence as Wire to draw a line between those who are 'in' and have (literally) paid their dues, and those who are 'nowhere' (i.e. outside the outside) of course has marginalising effects. 
 
Are they any more justified in adopting the mendacious business tactics of the mainstream music press from having martyred themselves to a terminally unprofitable cause in the first place? 
 
And more importantly, how much effect does this have on the quality and impartiality of its coverage of the music it does choose to review?
 
dB
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