misinformation spreading

[Gwgan]

Model X: Tesla ya tiene listo su automóvil eléctrico de 40.000$

This article claims the Model X, out next year, is the $40k car. I wish!
Posters here have mentioned the confusion in the media, but this is the first case I’ve seen.
Since Tesla does not advertise we’ll have to stamp out errors when we find them. If someone writes to this online mag in Spanish that might help more than my English response. Better yet, if someone is registered there they may add a comment.

 

[constraint]

Model X: Tesla ya tiene listo su automóvil eléctrico de 40.000$

This article claims the Model X, out next year, is the $40k car. I wish!
Posters here have mentioned the confusion in the media, but this is the first case I’ve seen.
Since Tesla does not advertise we’ll have to stamp out errors when we find them. If someone writes to this online mag in Spanish that might help more than my English response. Better yet, if someone is registered there they may add a comment.

Over the last say 6 years I have been obsessing about various topics including EV's and Space (before Tesla or SpaceX existed FYI). Once i started to get to the point where I really felt i understood the subject matter I started seeing media covering the subject and realized how bad journalistic integrity has fallen in the world. Fact based researched news has gone by the way side to bring us opinionated or "deadline" news that give you articles like this or guest speakers that are only there to pawn off their latest book (*cough Fox/Cnn/MSNBC*).

Knowing nothing about the subject sure, Tesla's Gen 3 is going to cost $35,000 and Model X is their 3rd planned vehicle so Model X will be 35k. 20 minutes of research will tell you that is not the case, but I have a deadline and this seems logical so I will write it. Hey Mr editor, I just wrote 270 words on Tesla because Tesla is in the news all the time so pay me my $80.

 

[Larry]

It's sad. The mainstream media is just there to sell advertising dollars. They could give 2 s**** about the facts.

 

[ChadS]

The more I know about a topic, the more disappointed I am in media coverage of that topic. That really makes me wonder how seriously to take the media on topics I am not familiar with...well, I don't wonder really. I just don't give it a lot of credibility.

I did a press tour for my company about 10 years ago. I gave every journalist my card and offered to review their work for accuracy. Not one contacted me. Every one wrote articles with technical mistakes. Some minor; but some really, really major.

 

[lgagliardi]

I agree. I see wrong facts printed over and over again. I am not sure how they keep their jobs? Are their bosses that bad at monitoring them?? Another point of contention is the "seeking alpha" type of commentators. Do they really have better insight? I would definitely say not.

 

[Doug_G]

Years ago I was being interviewed at an event (nothing to do with EVs), and the reported asked me for the name of something, and I happened to see that she wrote it down wrong. In fact the mistake looked a bit perjorative! I pointed out her mistake and she dismissively waved off my comment. The foolish-looking and needless mistake appeared verbatim in the published article.

These people are under such deadline pressure that they simply don't care an iota about accuracy. Really makes you question everything you see in the news media. Even when they're not biased, or overly sensationalizing something, they simply can't be bothered to get the facts straight.

 

[bonnie]

In fairness, just like any industry, there are really good people and a whole bunch of incompetent people. The problem is that in this particular industry (the media) even the incompetent people get their work published.

Just want to make sure we're not painting ALL journalists with the same paintbrush. It's unfair to the few ethical ones out there. The rest of them deserve every word (and more) for the harm they do.

 

[vfx]

The best thing we can do is be violent in the comments.

Ok I really mean "vigilant" there but spellcheck had a good idea so I went with it.

 

[wycolo]

Inch Lines or On Camera Minutes, nothing else matters.
--

 

[evme]

Someone needs to make a website that rates journalists by factual accuracy. Then maybe the journalists will care about accuracy. Kind of like fact check but every inaccuracy costs them points.

 

[Wanabee]

Yesterday, December 16, Zacks Research published an article that I read on the Yahoo finance site about the Model E that said that the Model S did not begin delivering cars to customers until the first quarter of 2013. I left a comment on this article that said that customers began receiving their cars in June 2012. I directed them to the company blog at Tesla Motors Inc web site for accurate information. Basically, you cannot take anything from the media as being accurate. You have to check with the original sources for the facts.

 

[AnOutsider]

Someone needs to make a website that rates journalists by factual accuracy. Then maybe the journalists will care about accuracy. Kind of like fact check but every inaccuracy costs them points.

awesome idear.

 

[Doug_G]

Yesterday, December 16, Zacks Research published an article that I read on the Yahoo finance site about the Model E that said that the Model S did not begin delivering cars to customers until the first quarter of 2013. I left a comment on this article that said that customers began receiving their cars in June 2012. I directed them to the company blog at Tesla Motors Inc web site for accurate information. Basically, you cannot take anything from the media as being accurate. You have to check with the original sources for the facts.

Apparently my car was delivered via Tardis...

 

[Bitech]

Nowhere near as problematic as the exaggerations of the Tesla fires; plus I don't really trust Spanish journalism (a Hispanic journalist asked the director of Gravity about the conditions of filming in space...)

So what if the journalist put in the wrong price for the upcoming X? The average Tesla fan and owner is smarter than the average person and would should know better not to trust secondary sources, so I doubt this would cause any kind of problem.

 

[copyhacker]

Zacks Research published an article that I read on the Yahoo finance site about the Model E...

Unless I missed something big, there's been absolutely no confirmation that Gen III will be called "Model E", but this has been almost unanimously picked up by the media. What started as an inside joke by Elon (Model S... E... X) is now taken as gospel. My favorite bit of misinformation. :biggrin:

 

[bonnie]

Nowhere near as problematic as the exaggerations of the Tesla fires; plus I don't really trust Spanish journalism (a Hispanic journalist asked the director of Gravity about the conditions of filming in space...)

So what if the journalist put in the wrong price for the upcoming X? The average Tesla fan and owner is smarter than the average person and would should know better not to trust secondary sources, so I doubt this would cause any kind of problem.

The problem is that one year from now, another journalist looks at that article and then looks at the X prices and screams 'price gouging!!!' and then there are a whole bunch of articles about how Tesla promised a mass market car and didn't keep their word. This kind of stuff will grow legs if you don't stop it.

- - - Updated - - -

Unless I missed something big, there's been absolutely no confirmation that Gen III will be called "Model E", but this has been almost unanimously picked up by the media. What started as an inside joke by Elon (Model S... E... X) is now taken as gospel. My favorite bit of misinformation. :biggrin:

I'm just annoyed by 'cute' acronyms, misinformation or not. It seems so 'Hello Kitty'-like.

 

[aronth5]

It never ceases to amaze me when an author includes misinformation on the base price for the Model S. Many are often wrong by $10k or more.
They must not know how to use Google to find Tesla's web site where they could simply look the price up:smile:

 

[Grendal]

Unless I missed something big, there's been absolutely no confirmation that Gen III will be called "Model E", but this has been almost unanimously picked up by the media. What started as an inside joke by Elon (Model S... E... X) is now taken as gospel. My favorite bit of misinformation. :biggrin:

It is as close to confirmed as possible. Tesla has copyrighted both Model E and Model Y. Franz, without hesitation, called it the Model E in a recent interview. I expect it will be the Model E with all the tee-hees that go along with it. It fits with the stereo going to 11. The Model Y could easily become the Gen III crossover. The media will love it and it will be talked about incessantly and Tesla will get a lot of free advertising.

Tee-Hee. :redface:

 

[Bitech]

I was browsing through the Tesla section of Reddit and I came across this post:

Tesla FOB is now second best? : teslamotors

Please don't get loyal. Just because Tesla has been awesome so far, does not mean you should decide to stick with that company through thick and thin. If another company makes a better product (or, in some other way, becomes more deserving of your custom), then ditch Tesla like a turd. That's how you foster an environment of competition.
If consumers don't do that, you end up with examples like the gaming console 'market'. All available products are consumer-hostile pieces of ****, and yet for some reason everyone turns into a bunch of circlejerking fanboys for whatever system they have decided is 'theirs', happily rationalising away flaws of their own system and advantages of others.
I would hate to have that happen to the EV market. Ugh.
Sorry OP, I didn't mean to direct this rant at you specifically. I guess I've just wanted to say this for a while, and your "us vs them" title gave me an opportunity, despite it's innocuousness.

The concept FOB belongs to BMW's upcoming i8. I'm not really sure these words are coming from a true Tesla fan. It sounds to me he's afraid Tesla's EV's will stall the market and is urging people to jump ship the moment another manufacturer makes a "better product", which I don't think will be happening anytime soon. Am I crazy to believe he's a hypocrite?

 

[artsci]

Years ago I was being interviewed at an event (nothing to do with EVs), and the reported asked me for the name of something, and I happened to see that she wrote it down wrong. In fact the mistake looked a bit perjorative! I pointed out her mistake and she dismissively waved off my comment. The foolish-looking and needless mistake appeared verbatim in the published article.

These people are under such deadline pressure that they simply don't care an iota about accuracy. Really makes you question everything you see in the news media. Even when they're not biased, or overly sensationalizing something, they simply can't be bothered to get the facts straight.

It's not just deadline pressure. Sadly, journalism today tends to attract people, who, shall we say, are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. The College Board tracks the SAT verbal and math scores of prospective college students by intended major. Near the bottom are prospective journalism majors. And it's not just the math score. They stand near the bottom on the verbal side as well.