4 ms·

Ok, so former reporter here. There are several 'criteria for newsworthiness'. One of them is novelty. Another is general public interest. And there is substant

Ok, so former reporter here. There are several 'criteria for newsworthiness'. One of them is novelty. Another is general public interest. And there is substantial general public interest in Tesla as a whole, since it is doing new things. Additionally, many of the things Tesla is trying is also novel. So that is two things right off the bat that make basically anything that happens there newsworthy to some degree. I get that people like to say "oh the media is just reporting on this failure because it's Tesla and they want them to fail," but to hold that view is to misunderstand the nature of news in general. Pieces like this aren't inherently "anti-Tesla", (which is what I am admittedly inferring you're getting at with your comment). But the fact that this is a new thing that humankind is experimenting with makes it newsworthy, and that includes its failures and successes. I also admittedly didn't read the article yet :)

Isinlor 8y ago
Then reporters should emphasize baselines. Otherwise this type of reporting misleads people and reporters are to blame for it. It is a "fake news" tough not necessarily any single report is false.
sneak 8y ago
If your criteria allow for this sort of handwaving nonsense, your criteria may be wrong.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
Eech0Shu 8y ago
Is a battery fire one of "tesla's failures" even though most other cars burn too? Is it statistically exceptionally common for tesla cars to burn?
- danso 8y ago
  The story is about the findings initiated by a NTSB investigation. You can see the current list of ongoing investigations here: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/All-Investigations.aspx?office=Highway https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/All-Investigations...
eganist 8y ago
This is the clickbait approach to journalism. Investigative and traditional news journalism will still focus on unusual deltas or events — and in this case, those deltas should be in Tesla's favor. A good example of newsworthiness might be if firefighters failed to put out a battery fire or if the NTSB (edited from NHTSA) focused on a particular incident for some reason, e.g. to learn and see how this event is being handled versus others. "Tesla on fire" isn't newsworthy. "NTSB monitoring emergency response to Tesla car fire" probably is. (edited from NHTSA. Source release: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180509.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180509.as...) "Tesla batteries catch on fire [more or less] frequently than gas cars" is newsworthy. It may even be worthy of further investigation in either event. "Tesla on fire" isn't newsworthy.
- danso 8y ago
  Then would you call the NTSB investigation a "clickbait" investigation? They are the ones who initiated the investigation that is being reported on right now. How unusual/newsworthy is a NTSB investigation? You can look at their list of major highway investigations right here: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/All-Investigations.aspx?office=Highway https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/All-Investigations... There are about 50 ongoing investigations since 2016. Of those, Tesla is the subject of 4 of them: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH004.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH004.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH011.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH011.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH013.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH013.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY17FH013.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY17FH013.aspx By my informal count, Tesla seems to have the most NTSB investigations of any individual automaker right now, given that many of the NTSB highway investigations involve bus and train accidents.
  - Ironchefpython 8y ago
    Honestly, I would expect the NTSB to investigate any kind of accident involving rare or new technology. I'd expect to see them investigate a higher percentage of accidents involving electric vehicles and self-driving vehicles until those technologies are safe enough and proven enough that you get diminishing returns from the investigations.
ovao 8y ago
While true that Tesla is attempting novel things — and sometimes falling short of success — there is nothing particularly novel about a car fire. They aren't particularly widespread, but neither are they incredibly rare. I think without another element to the story that's notable, novel or otherwise interesting, I think it falls short of the criteria for meaningful reporting and falls into the realm of sensationalism. It may not be specifically or deliberately "anti-Tesla", but that doesn't mean it's not sensationalist.

Isinlor 8y ago

Then reporters should emphasize baselines. Otherwise this type of reporting misleads people and reporters are to blame for it. It is a "fake news" tough not necessarily any single report is false.

sneak 8y ago

If your criteria allow for this sort of handwaving nonsense, your criteria may be wrong.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

Eech0Shu 8y ago

Is a battery fire one of "tesla's failures" even though most other cars burn too? Is it statistically exceptionally common for tesla cars to burn?

danso 8y ago
The story is about the findings initiated by a NTSB investigation. You can see the current list of ongoing investigations here: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/All-Investigations.aspx?office=Highway https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/All-Investigations...

eganist 8y ago

This is the clickbait approach to journalism. Investigative and traditional news journalism will still focus on unusual deltas or events — and in this case, those deltas should be in Tesla's favor. A good example of newsworthiness might be if firefighters failed to put out a battery fire or if the NTSB (edited from NHTSA) focused on a particular incident for some reason, e.g. to learn and see how this event is being handled versus others. "Tesla on fire" isn't newsworthy. "NTSB monitoring emergency response to Tesla car fire" probably is. (edited from NHTSA. Source release: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180509.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180509.as...) "Tesla batteries catch on fire [more or less] frequently than gas cars" is newsworthy. It may even be worthy of further investigation in either event. "Tesla on fire" isn't newsworthy.

danso 8y ago
Then would you call the NTSB investigation a "clickbait" investigation? They are the ones who initiated the investigation that is being reported on right now. How unusual/newsworthy is a NTSB investigation? You can look at their list of major highway investigations right here: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/All-Investigations.aspx?office=Highway https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/All-Investigations... There are about 50 ongoing investigations since 2016. Of those, Tesla is the subject of 4 of them: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH004.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH004.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH011.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH011.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH013.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY18FH013.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY17FH013.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/pages/HWY17FH013.aspx By my informal count, Tesla seems to have the most NTSB investigations of any individual automaker right now, given that many of the NTSB highway investigations involve bus and train accidents.
- Ironchefpython 8y ago
  Honestly, I would expect the NTSB to investigate any kind of accident involving rare or new technology. I'd expect to see them investigate a higher percentage of accidents involving electric vehicles and self-driving vehicles until those technologies are safe enough and proven enough that you get diminishing returns from the investigations.

ovao 8y ago

While true that Tesla is attempting novel things — and sometimes falling short of success — there is nothing particularly novel about a car fire. They aren't particularly widespread, but neither are they incredibly rare. I think without another element to the story that's notable, novel or otherwise interesting, I think it falls short of the criteria for meaningful reporting and falls into the realm of sensationalism. It may not be specifically or deliberately "anti-Tesla", but that doesn't mean it's not sensationalist.