4 ms·

Does anyone else wonder why this is getting so much media attention? Presumably any company above a certain size is likely to have one or two HR-related lawsuit

by J-dawg 9y ago

Does anyone else wonder why this is getting so much media attention? Presumably any company above a certain size is likely to have one or two HR-related lawsuits happening at any particular time. I can't imagine this being big news if she worked for IBM or HP. They also shoehorned in an unrelated story about worker safety. What is the Guardian's agenda here? Is it just that Tesla (and Musk) are very high profile at the moment? I'm not saying she doesn't have a legitimate complaint, she may well do and that's for a court to decide. But this simply wouldn't be news if it happened at a 'boring' company. (Well maybe The Boring Company).

netcan 9y ago
Well… the newsworthiness of any particular thing is pretty far removed from the objective importance of the thing, for any definition of importance or objectivity that don’t make the statement tautological. There was a comment pile on on another thread when someone likened opioid addiction to terrorism, because opioid addiction causes a hundred times more death and injury than terrorism. Terrorism is more newsworthy though. Almost any article about HP or IBM is less newsworthy than one about Tesla, atm.
- J-dawg 9y ago
  Point taken. I was just hoping that someone could shed some light on exactly why it's newsworthy. It feels like there's a kind of schadenfreude at play, like people are delighted to see that an innovative 'new' company has any problems at all. Nobody would be the slightest bit interested in knowing if (say) Toyota had workplace accident rates 30% above average. Or, (putting the tinfoil hat on), there's a PR 'submarine' at play here and someone stands to gain from rubbishing Tesla.
frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
>What is the Guardian's agenda here? To make money by getting clicks/selling papers. This story deals with the coolest company led by the coolest CEO in the coolest sector and that same sector is known for having "problems" with women. Of course it's a story.
- J-dawg 9y ago
  It get it. It just saddens me that basically all media outlets are in the business of clickbait now. Even supposedly 'good' ones like The Guardian. Everything is twisted into the most sensationalist phrasing possible.
  - frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
    Well there is still hope. Buzzfeed is doing some good journalism now. To me it seems like the sensationalism is a necessary evil to make the big bucks but maybe the long, detailed articles are also necessary for reputational reasons. It pushes more responsibility for filtering out crap onto the reader but if it allows good journalism to survive then I'm okay with it. See good Guardian articles here: https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Does anyone else wonder why this is getting so much media attention? Because Tesla and Musk have expended (and continue to expend) considerable effort actively seeking media attention and that effort has been very successful. Of course, once you've attracted that attention, it applies to everything you do, whether you want attention for that specific thing or not.

by J-dawg 9y ago

netcan 9y ago

Well… the newsworthiness of any particular thing is pretty far removed from the objective importance of the thing, for any definition of importance or objectivity that don’t make the statement tautological. There was a comment pile on on another thread when someone likened opioid addiction to terrorism, because opioid addiction causes a hundred times more death and injury than terrorism. Terrorism is more newsworthy though. Almost any article about HP or IBM is less newsworthy than one about Tesla, atm.

J-dawg 9y ago
Point taken. I was just hoping that someone could shed some light on exactly why it's newsworthy. It feels like there's a kind of schadenfreude at play, like people are delighted to see that an innovative 'new' company has any problems at all. Nobody would be the slightest bit interested in knowing if (say) Toyota had workplace accident rates 30% above average. Or, (putting the tinfoil hat on), there's a PR 'submarine' at play here and someone stands to gain from rubbishing Tesla.

frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago

>What is the Guardian's agenda here? To make money by getting clicks/selling papers. This story deals with the coolest company led by the coolest CEO in the coolest sector and that same sector is known for having "problems" with women. Of course it's a story.

J-dawg 9y ago
It get it. It just saddens me that basically all media outlets are in the business of clickbait now. Even supposedly 'good' ones like The Guardian. Everything is twisted into the most sensationalist phrasing possible.
- frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
  Well there is still hope. Buzzfeed is doing some good journalism now. To me it seems like the sensationalism is a necessary evil to make the big bucks but maybe the long, detailed articles are also necessary for reputational reasons. It pushes more responsibility for filtering out crap onto the reader but if it allows good journalism to survive then I'm okay with it. See good Guardian articles here: https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read

dragonwriter 9y ago

> Does anyone else wonder why this is getting so much media attention? Because Tesla and Musk have expended (and continue to expend) considerable effort actively seeking media attention and that effort has been very successful. Of course, once you've attracted that attention, it applies to everything you do, whether you want attention for that specific thing or not.