GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - Luke Ford

Follow-Up from Luke is Back

Mike Albo emails:

Your readers want to know, Luke. What happened to your big story regarding Playboy and AVN? You can't manage a response because of your new built-for-hypochondriac-sissies keyboard? Your reliable sources have abandoned you? What happened?

I'm always interested in hearing your explanations. So, strap on your safety helmet, put on your seatbelt and start hitting that keyboard. But be careful. You don't want to strain yourself or risk further debilitating injury...you pansy.

Always good to hear from you, Mike.

On September 18, I got this email from a usually reliable source: "Paul Fishbein just sold AVN to a company outside the adult biz. He's retiring. Darren Roberts and several other staff members will remain on board."

I emailed it to Paul Fishbein, and, not hearing anything back, I published the email on my site.

Paul then emailed me: "Shame on you for printing this. Completely false. Irresponsible and shameful. Your fucking anynymous sources are full of shit. Total disgrace."

I wondered why Paul was so angry. Why would he care? It would be a compliment to have Playboy interested in acquiring your business.

I figured Paul was angry for one or more of the following reasons:

* Bad journalism makes Paul angry.
* Paul doesn't want his employees to fear for their jobs.
* There really was serious discussion about selling AVN and my report made this more difficult.
* Reports of being sold make it more difficult to do business. People are leery about committing to you if you are about to change owners and people will take longer to pay you.

Over the next week, three more industry sources came to me to say that it was true that Playboy was buying AVN. One source said there would be an announcement in two weeks.

Three weeks have elapsed since then and there's been no announcement.

I'm out on a limb with this story. None of my sources have backed off it, so I have not either.

I have no doubt that Paul would love to get out of porn and do something else with his life.

AVN employees should only fear for their jobs if they are not good at what they do, if they are easily replaced, and if they have no marketable skills to get another job. Working at AVN is not some cushy overpaid gig and there's no job security. You have to earn your way, as you should.

Mike Albo writes:

So, let me see if I have this right. You sent an email seeking confirmation on this story, but decided that those crazy Internet deadlines of yours didn't allow you the luxury of waiting to get a response...so you went ahead and ran with an unconfirmed story. My, you are quite the gutsy professional!

...Thanks for schooling all of us in the basics of the job market. It's great that we can benefit from your many years of highly paid, award-winning, ethically unimpeachable, responsible and always accurate reporting...on your self-posted blogs and those wonderful books published in the vanity press.

AVN Editor Mike Ramone emails me:

Since you?ve gotten on your high horse in the past and lectured us about journalistic practices, turnabout only seems to be fair play, yes? As I recall, close to three weeks ago, you posted a headline saying the Playboy-buys-AVN deal would be announced in two weeks, and beneath that headline, you ran a single sentence saying four independent sources corroborate your story.

Now, however, you concede that only ONE source said the deal would be announced in two weeks, and as it turns out, that source was wrong.

So, a couple questions:

-Why didn?t you take it upon yourself, as any credible news organization would have done, to acknowledge to your readers, as soon as the two weeks had expired with no announcement, that the ?to be announced in two weeks? story was wrong, rather than wait for Albo to bust you?

-Why did you give the impression to your readers that four sources had corroborated the ?to be announced in two weeks? story, when, by your own admission, it was only one that had done so?

-In hindsight, considering your headline was based on a single unnamed source, don?t you think you should have hedged the headline a bit ? perhaps with a question mark or ?sources say? ? rather than flatly stating as fact that the deal would be announced in two weeks?

Inquiring minds want to know Luke.

Because I have more important things to do with my life than post corrections.

Mike Albo emails:

Uh, are you kidding here? That's the best you can do? Jeez. If I hadn't renounced physical violence a few years ago, I'd hunt you down and administer a beating to you with a bar of soap in a tube sock. But, given past experiences, I doubt even that would knock any sense into you. How do you live with yourself?

Mike Ramone emails:

The arrogance of your response is stunning. Aren?t you the one who repeatedly got up on his high horse a few months back and demanded that for journalistic ethics reasons, we correct something you got all tweaked about? (We didn?t because we disagreed with your position; in your case however, there is no question that your headline, flatly stating that the deal will be announced in two weeks, was flat-out wrong.)

Talk about hypocritical double standards. To state the obvious, you owe it to your readers to correct inaccuracies on your site, otherwise you have no credibility ? which is how many in the industry already view you. This latest episode only re-enforces that perception. ?Because I have more important things to do with my life than post corrections?? No, it?s undoubtedly more along the lines of ?Damn, I got another one wrong. I really hope nobody noticed.?