I’m so busy criticizing, I didn’t get around to posting something fairly well done: Michael Shapiro’s story for the Washington Post last week, Can You Trust Your Travel Guidebook?

I spoke to the reporter (or, really, emailed with), and he didn’t seem to have an agenda going into it, unlike Peter Munro. I think the story’s good mostly because it doesn’t seem bent on tearing down Lonely Planet. And he actually spoke to Thomas Kohnstamm. The really interesting part, though, was a sidebar: Six Guidebook Publishers and Their Policies on Freebies. No heavy-handed analysis, and quotes from execs at each house. This is decent reporting that says, Readers, you’re smart–you can make up your own minds.