ABSTRACT
Chapter 2, 'Problems', examines the faults that critics found with their profession: the prevalence of bias and opinion (especially in the hands of the much-derided 'impressionist critic'), the work of hacks and philistines, poor writing style and the perils of anonymous criticism, not to mention implications of bad behaviour by corrupt editors, critics and newspapers. It gives examples of specific cases where bias was prevalent in the press through cronyism, nepotism and kickbacks and the ways anonymity was exploited for personal gain and public shaming. The recounting of mere personal opinion was increasingly called into question. Audiences and readers were sometimes labelled as philistines for their supposed inability to engage with higher criticism but an example is given where readers turned against critics for leveraging this accusation. Attention is drawn to problems of 'the personal equation' or subjectivity in criticism; academicism and style, especially the lengths the Musical Times went to encourage a new school of music criticism in the 1890s.
