As a journal editor, I find this exchange very disturbing. I know that my own practice is to send articles for reviewing to people that I expect will be interested in the topic and supportive of the approach - I am not trying to weed out contributions by directing them to unsympathetic readers. However, I have two problems that complicate this scenario: i) Although our journal is new and there has not yet been a rush of contributions, I am already having trouble in finding enough readers. Curtness may be as much a response to having been asked once too often, as much as to the article itself. ii) If I do not entirely agree with a reader's response, or consider it too harsh, I have been known to edit it before forwarding it. But that requires finding extra time to be tactful, and time is one thing I can ill afford to be generous about. I think part of the reason for the phenomenon described is the change in university culture under the pressures of economic rationalism. We are all so rushed and so stressed - and often also so insecure in tenure - that the old `gift culture' that kept the whole intellectual enterprise afloat is in danger of disappearing. Once, we would assess theses, or write references for students or colleagues, or advise someone else's students, because others had done this for us as we needed it. But in a climate where we are required to do more and more with less and less, and our employers measure our performance very narrowly (in terms of students taught and papaers published in refereed journals), these more peripheral obligations are the first to be abandoned as the pressure increases. Ordinary courtesy is also a luxury under these circumstances. Anyway, you may like to check out our journal at the URL below. We ARE looking for contributions, they WILL be taken seriously and you will be treated courteously even if the decision goes against you. I would also like to hear from people willing to be readers: just send your areas of interest and a brief CV to the journal's email address. I am trying hard not to lose faith in academic culture, and I certainly hope that the newer members of the academic community can ride out this (surely temporary!!!) phenomenon. Ina Bertrand -- (Dr) Ina Bertrand Media Studies, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia 3083 [log in to unmask] http://www.latrobe.edu.au/www/screeningthepast/ ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite