• by Michael Shields , July 13, 2004

In the latest installment of the publishing world's ongoing circulation saga, the Magazine Publishers of America has said, "we agree with you," to the Audit Bureau of Circulations while Ziff Davis is telling the auditor "not so fast."

In a statement released Tuesday, the MPA announced its supports for the ABC's new efforts to reinforce confidence in its auditing authority. "MPA supports the independent audit process and ABC's efforts to bolster confidence in its auditing procedures," said MPA President and CEO Nina Link.

"Consumer magazines have been audited for almost 100 years, creating a bond of trust between advertisers and magazines. We encourage measures that preserve that trust."

Meanwhile, a censure decision made by the ABC on Monday has affected publisher Ziff Davis.

While several recent reports have accused the publisher of inflating PC Magazine's circulation, yesterday, Ziff Davis issued a statement saying that any such accusation is incorrect. The publisher did acknowledge that the ABC might require Ziff to "reclassify a portion of its subscriptions generated through a subscription agent from "paid" to "analyzed non-paid direct request."

Yet the story does not end there, as Ziff is disputing ABC's decision to warrant reclassifications and may offer an appeal.

On Monday, in addition to censuring Newsday, Hoy, and the Chicago Sun-Times, the ABC also censured the Synapse Group, Inc., a magazine sales agent, for improper record keeping.

According to Ziff Davis, the Synapse Group, a subsidiary of Time Inc. managed the subscriptions in question for PC Magazine, and indicated that all subscriptions were legitimate and were independently verified by ABC.

Synapse has been slow to bill Ziff for certain subscriptions it generated, says the publisher. Because these payments would occur more than seven months after the start of service for these subscribers, they would not qualify as paid circulation based on ABC rules.

Ziff Davis has asked ABC for an exception to this rule but was denied. The publishing company may seek either a reconsideration of the denial or a finding that the rule does not apply to these subscriptions.

In a statement, Bart W. Catalane, President & COO of Ziff Davis Media, said, "We're proud of the quality of the circulation of PC Magazine and our other titles and Ziff Davis will continue to be at the forefront of quality circulation practices."