Car News Articles

This “article” by Sam Moses appeared on an newsletter/website called autowriters.com, an Inside Baseball-type publication for automotive journalists. When I read the not-so-divine Mr. M’s diatribe, I was more than slightly miffed. His rant completely misrepresents Frank Williams’ editorial on automotive reviews in newspapers. So I called autowriter.com’s main main, Glenn F. Campbell. I asked the publisher point blank if he’d actually read Frank’s article. Nope. But that was O.K. because it’s OK to publish someone’s opinion, even if it is factually inaccurate or, in this case, devoid of factual justification. When I reminded Campbell that he’s legally liable for libel (just to tweak his nose), Campbell didn’t get it. “You said there were no facts cited so what could I check  - to see if my opinions agree with Sam’s? Homogenous opinions would make a dull, narrow-minded Newsletter.” And yet, that’s what he’s created. I’ve calmed down enough to see the unintentional humor of Mr. Moses’ TTAC attack. Still, I think it’s important for our readers to contemplate the full glory of what we’re up against, day in, day out.  

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20 Responses to “
The Truth About The Truth About The Truth About Cars’ Take About Newspaper Car Reviews ”

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• Robert Farago :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  10:41 pm

  Two important facts:

  1. “He says that to get information from an engineer is a sign of bias.” He does not.

  2. “We at TTAC are too weak to filter out the manufacturers’ spin at launches, and not smart enough to find the good technical information that’s all over the place. So we don’t go to them.” TTAC attends new product launches and other manufacturer-sponsored events– when invited (obviously). We always list any and all manufacturers’ contributions to an article (transportation, lodging, food, gas, insurance, etc.)

• Justin Berkowitz :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:14 pm

  Declarative sentences. For the consumer. Dry, yes; that’s the price of the pursuit of truth—and I’m not saying it’s always there, either.

  Okay, two problems here.

  The first is that Moses assumes all automotive review readers are the same.

  Second, why must pursuit of the truth be dry? Ever heard the expression “It’s funny because it’s true”?

• David Holzman :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:23 pm

  One thing Moses is blatantly ignorant of is the fact that TTAC is not aimed at the consumer. But Moses’ diatribe is so disorganized and badly written that I wouldn’t have gotten past the first couple of sentences if I had come across this anywhere but on TTAC. I had to read it several times to figure out what he was trying to say. It is worse than amateurish. My advice to RF is to take this item down and forget about it. Its inconsequential IMO.

• Robert Farago :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:23 pm

  Justin Berkowitz:

  Declarative sentences.

  Is not. A sentence.

• dean :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:23 pm

  As if a 4-hour exclusive interview with an engineer or product or PR person could somehow HURT a review.

  If I spent four hours with a friendly engineer/designer while caning the snot out of his pride and joy, I might have trouble telling the world that he couldn’t design his way out of a paper bag. Not that this would happen, but that is how it could hurt a review.

  And he needn’t worry about TTAC’s ability to sort the spin from reality. The whole point of Frank’s editorial was that the typical newspaper car reviewer doesn’t bother.

  Like you said RF, it was pretty obvious the guy didn’t do more than skim the piece at best.

• Richard Chen :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:25 pm

  Sam Moses writes for (among many other things) newcartestdrive.com whose staff includes other members of established automotive news media, but whose Alexa rating which at 1/5th of TTAC’s could use a little boost. It is owned by Internet Brands, which owns CarsDirect.com, AutoData.net, Autos.com (best mid-sized car: Buick Lacrosse, hmm), a whole bucketload of car forums I’ve never stumbled upon, wikicars.org, and many other sides not automotive. Not that it makes any difference, but their Board of Directors has this fellow named Roger Penske.

  David’s slingshot is at the ready, fire at will.

• Jordan Tenenbaum :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:25 pm

  It’s people like him who help reiterate why I come here.

• sean362880 :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:35 pm

  Methinks Sam dost protest too much. TTAC readers are not average consumers; they are much more knowledgeable about cars and discerning about automotive writing than newspaper readers (on average). Frankly, we don’t need dry technical information because we already know it. We WANT subjective opinion, because car buying is such a personal and emotional choice.

• sightline :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:39 pm

  You could fill many issues of autowriters.com with examples of horrible, inaccurate TTAC autojournalism that he thinks is clever and truthful—and I’d cite them if there were room here.

  This is the worst kind of writing, engaging in a petty little ad-hom remark then refusing to back it up. This indicates either an unwillingness to read TTAC’s reviews or an inability to find support for this statement. The writer threw this rhetorical device onto the page, hoping that the reader would just casually nod and continue on.

  I’d expect such a thing on the playground, but not in anything written by a putative professional.

• steronz :
  
  
  May 15th, 2008 at
  11:45 pm

  RF:

  How does “[BTW: Keane also mentions that a Chrysler engineer accompanied him on the test drive. Nope. No bias shown there.]” (Frank’s words) all that different from “He says that to get information from an engineer is a sign of bias?” I mean, you’re splitting hairs and arguing semantics if you say that’s not what Frank was suggesting.

  I tend to agree with TTAC’s stance that any test drives should ideally be conducted in a production vehicle without the knowledge or consent of the manufacturer, much like Consumer Reports. However, I can see this guy’s point. I don’t agree with it, but I can see it.

  And frankly, I don’t think it’s that inflammatory. When I saw that you were all worked up over an article earlier today, I figured it would be something really bad. Now that I’ve read it, I’m thinking TTAC just has thin skin.

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