Far from the Mainstream
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In the immediate wake of Sen. John McCain’selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, debate about the role of the mainstream media in U.S. election politics cranked up from a gentle simmer to a rolling boil. Questions included: Was the media fair in its treatment of Palin? Was she treated differently because she was a woman? Because she was a conservative woman?
Where you weighed in on those questions probably depends on which candidate you supported in the election (which, as this is written, is still several weeks in the future). McCain/Palin supporters would probably say the media were over the top in performing their self-proclaimed job of “vetting” the VP candidate. Those who favored the Obama/Biden ticket would likely say no, the media were simply doing their duty to inform Americans about Palin, her background and her qualifications.
Happily, we here at Products Finishing work far outside the world of the mainstream media and are thus immune to this debate. One big difference between PF and a typical mainstream media publication is, we are a controlled-circulation magazine. This means that, basically, we choose the folks we want to get PF. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a qualified recipient—someone who works in the finishing industry and has influence over the finishing processes used in their shops. We want the magazine to go to readers like you so advertisers, who pay the bills and help us keep the magazine free for you and other subscribers, will know their message is reaching their target audience.
Over the course of a year, we turn over a significant portion (about 20%) of our subscriber list. Because finding new, qualified subscribers is far more difficult and costly for our circulation department than renewing current subscribers, we try each year to maximize retention of qualified persons on our current list.
Which brings us to the real point of this exercise, and to where you come in. If you’re a qualified subscriber, you may have noticed a renewal card attached to this issue. All you need to do to renew your subscription for another year is fill out and sign the card and drop it in the mail—we pay the postage—or fax it to 513-527-8830.
Maybe you ditched the card to see what was on our cover. No worries—you can also re-up your subscription online by going to www.pfonline.com/subscribe. You’ll need a couple bits of info from your mailing label, but online renewals are fast, simple and available 24/7.
Regardless of how you do it, promptly renewing your subscription to PF has several benefits. For one thing, it guarantees you won’t hear from us again about renewal until this time next year. It also ensures that you won’t miss a single issue. We hope that’s important enough to you that you’ll a couple minutes to renew.
Thanks for the help, and we look forward to serving you next year.
