Forum - View topicNEWS: Newtype USA to Cease Publication
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zrdb
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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I didn't take what you said out of context at all, so that's not a valid argument. You directly said the magazine was in fact a "mouthpiece" for ADV, provided absolutely no real evidence for this, directly contradicted several other users in the thread without supporting your statement. Opinions can absolutely be wrong. You're making a false claim about something, not simply "expressing your opinion". |
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Hon'ya-chan
 Posts: 973 |
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So by that logic, is this why Animerica folded and became a quarterly pamplet, because Viz used it as it's mouthpiece? |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2231 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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All this argument goes to show you is that IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER NEWTYPE was ACTUALLY a mouthpiece for ADV at all...
All there needs to be is the closeness of a company involved in a product with the magazine which is supposed to be objective about it. Say, for instance, Microsoft decided to start up a magazine called "Microsoft's OS Monthly - Your complete guide to Windows, OS X, and Linux" No matter WHAT that magazine did it would be seen only as a mouthpiece for Microsoft, regardless of its content. The lesson to be learned here is that if ADV really wanted to avoid Newtype being seen as a mouthpiece it should have either 1. Banned all coverage or mention of ADV products in the magazine period, claiming conflict of interest, or 2. Spun off the magazine as a completely separate entity and wiped ADV's name from anything associated with its management. "Barbed wire across the hall" isn't going to convince anyone... it might even give people reason to believe there was a reason to put up the wire in the first place. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16935 |
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Well considering the size of ADV and it's impact on American anime licensing blocking all material from them would just be downright stupid. And why should they hide the name of the parent company? It's not their fault if a large portion of the readers are ignorant and can't see past 2 inches in front of their face. They also hardly plastered ADV logos all over the magazine and didn't say how Godly ADV was compared to other companies.
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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That's plain stupid. Then people would just argue of the lack of ADV and would claim bias against. It would also be bad journalism on their part for not covering all sides. All news outlets are "biased" in some aspect, but that's all pushed aside if they cover every angle. With so many titles out from ADV each month, I'm sure there would be a serious lack of content in specific sections. If people want to claim this, then it must be an issue of their own somehow.
But ADV "licensed" the magazine. You can't not give credit where credit is due. Legal matters aside... You can't just hide it because anime fans are so high-and-mighty in their accusations. "I know all about the industry blah blah blah... ADV is out to get us blah blah blah..." Your argument makes no sense at all. |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2231 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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I'm not saying it's ADVs fault, it's the harsh reality of the world we live in. And if going by the posts I've seen in this forum and others, there's a significant minority who seem to believe that Newtype US is a mouthpiece for ADV out there. Do I believe not covering anything from ADV would be a good idea? No, it would incredibly stupid, but that was one way to prevent people from getting that opinion. The fact is when ADV was in licensing negotiations with Newtype in the first place they should have had the forethought to construct a ghost company as the name on the licensing agreement and then quickly split off a section of it's people to work on the magazine for this new company (mostly funded by ADV, but a separate company). THAT would have given the magazine enough plausibility of neutrality to let people actually judge it by it's merits. Instead, by licensing it as ADV, the magazine was immediately tarnished with a stigma of bias that it had to actively fight against for its entire existence. Or are you going to try and tell me there weren't people out there claiming its bias? Oh, wait, they're right here in this thread. If you are trying to argue that Newtype shouldn't have done anything differently and that it's the consumer's fault for being stupid and ignorant, well, that's a great business plan, and I wish you luck with that. I was just trying to point out the deeper reasons for some of the idiotic opinions posted here. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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So they should cripple their magazine and go too far in the other direction so as to avoid irrational, illogical people from having an unfounded opinion? Wouldn't it just be easier to ignore those people? |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar Posts: 16935 |
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Az Zac already said why should they hinder their own magazine in any way and to any depth just to placate irrational people who make illogical and unfounded claims? Such people would find a reason to bitch and complain no matter what you do so why hinder your own magazine to placate those kinds of people when they're going to bitch anyway? Why should ADV have to hide the fact they own Newtype when they didn't do anything wrong morally or in a business sense? That's like you going and buying a restaurant but making sure no one knows you own it. Why in the world would you do that? Would you not want people to know it's yours when it does well? And even if it does poorly you can be adult and take responsibility instead of trying to hide by putting some ghost company name out there to fool people. The magazine never promoted itself as Newtype by ADV so that argument of your is pointless. They didn't hide the fact they were owned by ADV but they in no way went out and said "look at us we're owned by ADV buy our magazine and support them" And I obviously never said there weren't people CLAIMING it was biased so you can stop trying to infer I meant something that I did not say. I also never once said they didn't make mistakes now did I? So again you can please stop trying to twist my words or infer that I was making a point that I obviously was not. They of course made mistakes considering they're now gone. So obviously they could have done some things differently. You claim you're trying to point out the deeper reasons here but you actually don't really point anything out yourself as opposed to just taking what others have said and trying to turn their words around into some point of your own. |
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PurpleM
 Posts: 21 |
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I'm really sad to see Newtype USA go too. (;_;) I really loved all of the bright artwork, especially the ones created specifically for the magazine. My favorite part, though, were the articles directly translated from the Japanese version. I guess I'm like the few people out there who are more interested in seeing what's going on in Japan directly from the mouths of Japanese writers. It would have been amazing if Newtype USA were actually a complete English-language mirror of Newtype Japan. Even though it wasn't, they still had a nice variety of articles from the Japanese version, so I was okay with it I guess. It's easy to come across news that's going on in the English-speaking world -- after all, we have ANN and dozens of great sites and blogs out there. It's always more difficult to get decent Japanese articles, let alone like interviews, first-hand writings by Japanese VAs, and all that good stuff. That content is what I think made Newtype USA amazing.
Right now, I'm not really interested in Otaku USA, since they bill themselves as giving a "strictly American view" of the anime and manga world. We don't yet know what PiQ is like, but it won't have Newtype Japan columns. (;_;) By the way, ANN's article says that it isn't clear whether Newtype USA's final issue "refers to the official February issue, which is set to go on sale later this month, or the March issue, which would go on sale in February." Do we know which it is yet? I definitely want to pick up their final issue. You know, for good memories and all that!
Hey, I know what you're talking about. I remember reading a response from someone (a Newtype USA staff member?) saying that that section wasn't very popular based on reader input and that it also took a lot of time to write up all that info. That's why they dropped it. Too bad, huh? I wish I could find where I read this but it escapes me right now. |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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It's the February issue -- the one that comes out at the end of this month. 
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2231 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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Well, since you asked my real opinion instead of making some vacuous argument by twisting other people's words, I am against, by principle, any magazine or other journalistic endeavor owned by a corporation who sells products that magazine is attempting to cover impartially. Magazines like Nintendo power, for instance, with a specific viewpoint and purpose are fine, but whenever ANY company puts out a magazine that is designed to cover the market into which that company is a major player, I get worried. Not because of any bias that exists necessarily, but because of the POTENTIAL for it to occur at any point in time. I (and I think, many of my generation), have little trust in the "goodness" of corporations... Sure a publication might be completely fair and balanced, let's take that as a given. But what's to say that in the future, when times are tough (like, now?), that parent company X might just apply a little pressure on said publication to give anime Y a cover the next month, or maybe expand that review another page... The only thing preventing such a thing is the good will of the people involved. Call my cynical or paranoid or whathaveyou, but I prefer a certain layer of abstracting between my impartial journalism and my media conglomerate. Not that I'm kidding myself or anything... I realize that 90% of the magazines in the US are now owned by one of the media conglomerates that also produces the media they cover... And that's exactly what gives rise to this sentiment in the first place. Did we really need the preeminent anime magazine published in the US to be owned by one of the largest distributors of anime in the US? Is that a good thing, simply on principle? I say, no, regardless to the content of the magazine. |
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FullmetalCJ
Industry Insider
 Posts: 62 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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Time-Warner is one of the largest entertainment companies in the world (movies, TV, music, books). They publish Entertainment Weekly. Are you worried about EW? Did the question even come into your mind before?
It's a good thing because only an anime company would be willing to jump through the licensing hoops to get a magazine like Newtype (meaning, licensed content from a Japanese magazine) done and keep it going. And it takes good editors to keep the content of said magazine balanced. 
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karvelot
 Posts: 28 |
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I wonder if next month's issue is going to be a special farewell issue. This saddens me just as much as when the WB was taken off the air.
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2231 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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Yes, and I addressed it in my post 2 paragraphs down. It DOES worry me, that in particularly. And Time and CNN and Newsweek and all the big magazines are now owned by corporate conglomerates. And people wonder why the populace are turning to bloggers for the news? |
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