Are Critics Necessary?
Are critics necessary? This is a question I'm mulling over with the announcement that classical music and dance critic for The San Diego Union-Tribune , Valerie Scher, has accepted a buy-out with no plans to replace her. I've worked with Valerie for nearly a decade now and have come to consider her a friend as much as a colleague. Sure, from time to time we didn't always see eye to eye but her unique charm, insight and voice is what made our local paper, well, local. While I embrace the democratizing of information and opinion via such sites as Yelp, Amazon, Epinions and the dozens of blogs I read each day I think something should be said for the voice of experience, the voice of consistency -- a "cultural gatekeeper" if you will. Especially on a local level. San Diego still is a small town despite what we want to believe. From where I stand (and I stand in a unique position of working with the critics as the PR guy here) I always thought the best criticism wasn...