Listening to the Rebel rant on travel writers makes you wonder if the guy’s ever worked for anyone in his life. Is that a cigarette or a silver spoon dangling from his lips?

Sure, the Rebel’s right that most travel writers bring the spine of a jellyfish to their work, “informing” readers about as well as a late-night infomercial on Viagra substitutes. And yes, as Tim McDonald details, the Society of American Travel Writers shows it believes in its rules about objective reporting like Putin shows he believes in a Democratic, open Russia.

But the Rebel and even McDonald to a lesser extent, fail to grasp that these praise-spewing travel writers are not operating in a vacuum. They’re getting hired and rehired by editors who want nothing but the sunny side up in their publications.

Most places are not going to allow a writer to point out the real truth about a lousy, overpriced golf course for example. Newspapers and magazines cower in intimidation from sticking up to anyone in the big business travel world.

At many publications, reviews are muted, not published at all or erased from memory if they offend. A lot of travel writers may be gutless, but that’s in many instances a key to employment.

It’s time to stop picking on the little guys trying to eke out a living on freelancer’s checks and call out the editors at the helm. They know what they’re getting when they hire certain writers and it’s obvious that is what they want to dupe their readers with.

Drop the silver spoon, Rebel. Open your eyes to the real world. It’s no surprise you’re a golf industry insider. You sound like you’ve never left the country club.

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