He wrote:
To me, it seems that some people fundamentally don’t understand the function of a critic. Drama critics, movie critics, restaurant critics, music critics, tech critics — all of us, it seems to me — are hired specifically to present our opinions.
I would never describe my weekly columns as “news stories,” even if there’s sometimes a news element. They are reviews meant to guide readers toward products that, in my opinion, are good or bad.
You can certainly disagree with a critic. Sometimes, knowing that you almost always disagree with a certain critic is just as helpful in guiding your buying decisions as always agreeing.
But in the end, a reviewer is entitled to like the new Flickr just as much as longtime photographers are entitled to hate it.
The reason I am quoting this excerpt from Pogue's blog should be clear to most of my readers.
