As the editor of AEM the past six or seven months have been some of the busiest and most difficult times of my life. Besides personal battles, holidays and daily life came all the issues and questions that an up-and-comer in the media market would expect.
Some of the toughest parts of this job have been questions from readers. And the most frequent question asked has been ‘how do you choose the people you interview?’ Well that’s more difficult than it seems. The AEM staff and myself have a whole list of names, requests and submissions that we look through daily. We are always looking for that next star or interesting group or individual. What we often find is too many choices.
You know what the final determination of an interviewee making an issue of AEM? Follow through. The person does their part. Some of the main goals of AEM are to ensure that our articles are simple to read, honest, upbeat and a joint effort. We work hard to provide quality content for the readers and about people who see the value, respect and opportunity to be a part of our magazine.
The second most asked question is ‘why do you feature so many female riders?’ The answer is very simple – the ladies deserve the exposure, they step up to help get their articles done combined with AEM’s commitment to Quad Girls as a partner. The guys tend to drag their feet and in some cases need things completed for them. Not that I would expect anything else, I am not far off the lazy path at times.
In the end I guess what it comes down to is how much desire someone has to be featured in AEM. For racers we consider it an opportunity to promote themselves to their current sponsors and future sponsors. For your average enthusiast or rider AEM has the belief that they are the staple and backbone to the ATV riding family. And vendors, our stance is they are the heart of data and safety of the sport.
As we enter 2007 AEM has a commitment to our readers to provide content unlike other sites. We also have adopted a new creed. It’s a statement offered to me over dinner and drinks at the Ironman GNCC race this past year: “Don’t print or say anything if you cannot say something positive!”
As tough as that can be these days we are committed to that creed. From the amateur stand point it’s the only honest way to grow in professionalism. Just don’t expect to here water down truths or half stories in person. We are still going to tell things how they are when it needs to be done. “If you don’t want to know, do not ask” – that is my personal creed. But hey, no one is perfect. |
