So much for free mass media publicity.

Hydrogen and fuel-cell technology and the promise of "clean" fuel-cell powered automobiles have been much in the news lately. Trace it in no small part to President Bush's announcement, in his State of the Union address, of a $1.2 billion program to develop hydrogen cars. Also trace it to the proliferating protests against SUVs.

We called Peter Hoffmann, editor of The Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter, to ask him how the growing interest in hydrogen has affected his own newsletter operation.

"I was quoted in The New York Times and was called for six or seven interviews, including Science magazine," he said.

Asked if that is translating into more subscriptions, he replied, "No. In fact, renewals were down in January, usually one of my strongest months. I guess it's the continuing onslaught of budget cuts."

So much for free publicity. Similarly, Fred Goss, in his Publisher Profile of Tim Baskerville this issue, appended this sidebar:

"At one point when the video business was really heating up," Baskerville said, "one of the TV morning shows brought me from Los Angeles to New York to pontificate on 'what it all means.' As it turned out, I was bumped from the show several mornings in a row, but they put me up in a nice hotel. When I finally got on, for my 15 minutes of fame, about the only response I got was from my grandmother who called to say she hated my necktie. I don't think it sold a single order."