Why does the WSJ hate Elon and Tesla? [⚠️ ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS]

[skinzy]

I fly airplanes, they have an autopilot, not taking a nap.

Exactly! I was thinking how could this guy miss a semi on its side in his lane and not engage?

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[tingmo13]

media & people think Billionaire should live in a big mansion, have yacht, party & keep mum but Elon doesn't. Moreover, Tesla refuse to spend money on ads which is one of the main source of media income.

 

[carsly]

Excessive praise for a founder, CEO or company just comes off as self-serving. That was the Steve Jobs era of media (no, this didn't all start with Tesla). It drove some traffic, but not enough to stave off the drop in circulation revenue for most/many major media outlets.

Then we had Elizabeth Holmes, some repeating of the Steve Jobs coverage approach. But then it all went to hell in a handbasket and...I'm guessing the sensationalistic turn drove more clicks than the prior favorable coverage. Ah, media geniuses pick up on trends and figure out what to do next.

Let's deify Elon and then tear him down, it's media genius! So that's where we are. It's the same reason why broadcast television news always had the tasteless adage "if it bleeds, it leads".

Is it right? I'd offer that excessive bias in coverage only turns off those who really want insightful coverage, but we're a shrinking audience. The growth is in stimulating fear, anger and uncertainty - that drives clicks, reshares, likes and the interactions which are the currency of the 21st century media business model.

That's one of the factors that, IMHO, has given rise to citizen journalism and podcasting, sure the extremes are out there, but people want authentic coverage of facts with some insights absent biases or inflammatory rhetoric. Some "media genius" will figure this out in 5-10 years and make a fortune scaling a "real news" service.

 

[carsly]

media & people think Billionaire should live in a big mansion, have yacht, party & keep mum but Elon doesn't. Moreover, Tesla refuse to spend money on ads which is one of the main source of media income.

BINGO

If you're not buying ads, you're the enemy. Thus a lot of favorable coverage of ICE companies losing billions of dollars on EV's being "innovation leaders" and "transforming clean transportation" while having little real impact. But they buy ads, lots of ads, so get to own their narrative with help from the cabal of oil and gas companies who also buy ads, lots of ads. Without all those ICE manufacturer and oil and gas ads, you're looking at steeper job losses at "mainstream media".

So sell ads, run favorable coverage, people keep jobs, write hit pieces on companies who don't buy ads. Rinse, repeat.

For those who recall, [repeated hearsay, not claiming factual evidence] Yelp used to "encourage" restaurants to sign up for their services. Restaurants who declined magically had bundles of bad reviews appear on their pages. When they relented and paid Yelp? Oh, the negative reviews literally disappeared and ratings went up. Did the food or service change? Many restaurant owners will tell you no.

 

[MyOtherTruck]

I'd like to think we all know why...

 

[REM]

Follow the $$$

 

[skinzy]

Tesla refuse to spend money on ads which is one of the main source of media income.

Very interesting observation. Would agree.

 

[pricedm]

Tesla versus Big Oil and entrenched, established ways.

Innovator versus legacy.

 

[CT007]

I unsubscribed last year. It's not just Tesla. The quality has really gone down.

 

[CTofLosGatos]

Wall Street Journal running an extremely biased and theatrical video on Tesla self driving called "The Hidden Autopilot Data That Reveals Why Teslas Crash" This is just one of many negative articles coming primarily from journal reporter Tim Higgins. What's going on here? Thoughts

It is some inflicted to some extent by Musk, some of his political views, but also the fun in highlighting failures rather than the vision. And it is not just WSJ, but seems everywhere, especially in YouTube. But we are adapting too... I personally believe in the vision of Tesla, the technology advances it is making, the 'right' people in Tesla, including Musk, who are driving it. But I also ack that Musk makes crazy remarks often... I don't agree but give him space. I don't treat him like god, but an genius leader like Jobs...

 

[Crissa]

You can tell an article is bad when it makes a statement in the first minute... and then doesn't support it with evidence of the contrary. To know if A is worse than the default, you need to prove the default. Do they? No, they didn't.

The only reason we have this data is that Tesla has their cars send it home - no other company has so many cars that record crash data. No other company has so many who dial home.

Literally they show an accident of a vehicle that has radar (most in the 1000 were while using radar) and then blames it on the lack of radar.

Why is the article bad? Because clicks drive engagement and subscriptions.

-Crissa

 

[BobSaidSo]

 

[BayouCityBob]

I unsubscribed last year. It's not just Tesla. The quality has really gone down.

Ever since Rupert Murdoch bought the Journal. It increasingly focuses on click-bait angertainment just like his other news media properties: Fox News, New York Post, The Sun, etc. etc.

 

[BayouCityBob]

Blackrock

LOL. Blackrock is a money manager. It does not "own" much of anything. It runs various investment funds where others put their money and own equity in these companies. You could make the same graphic with Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity, etc.

 

[shellac]

WSJ has been hot garbage since Murdoch took over. It’s gotten even worse with regard to Elon recently after Tucker Carlson went over to X. News Corp sees Elon’s X as a direct competitor.

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