Jaunted

We decided to write the Times to get that side of the story. After all, it's hardly fair to accuse an entire group of journalists of violating professional ethics without a shred of evidence supporting your claims. Here's what Travel Editor Stuart Emmrich had to say:

Mr. Frommer's charge that the Travel section's occasional coverage of luxury properties has come from "a directive from on high" so that we can attract more advertising from the makers of luxury goods is not only absurd, but shows a complete lack of understanding of how The New York Times operates. The latter is particularly surprising since Frommer's is our content partner on [our] website and thus should be aware of the strict barriers between the editorial and business departments of this newspaper.

Our coverage of luxury travel leaves us plenty of room to cast a skeptical eye over some of these high-end properties in much the same way that Frommer's lucrative contract with the Times doesn't preclude him from attacking us when the whim hits.

Snap! Truth be told, we didn't even need to ask Stuart about this, since he already addressed the issue in this "Talk with the Newsroom" in early April:

There are, however, reasons why you see extensive coverage of luxury resorts, or upscale hotels or trendy restaurants profiled in this section. Unlike the travel magazines, mainly published on a monthly basis, we are a newspaper section and thus must cover the news on a timely basis.

And the news in the world of travel often includes where new hotels are being built, where new resorts are being developed and where airlines are adding new routes. And many of these are, in fact, pitched to higher-income travelers. We cannot ignore that.

But we can balance that coverage with more affordable alternatives, and that we do as well, even if some of our readers don’t feel we do enough of it.

Related Stories:
· Would You Pay $725 for Round-Trip Rail to Leeds? [Frommer's]
· Travel Media coverage [Jaunted]

[Original Photo: Wikipedia]