5 ms·

Musk and Tesla are doing much better than headlines suggest

33 points by neo4sure 8y ago

skybrian 8y ago
Maybe, but it's Musk's own tweets that really get people's attention, and you can't blame outsiders for them.
- woodandsteel 8y ago
  But you can blame the mainstream media for not also reporting all the good news about Tesla. It seems clear they have made an editorial decision to only tell bad stories. It's especially puzzling because the MM is very concerned about global climate change, and that problem can't be solved withuout EV's, so you would expect them to be big Tesla boosters. Instead they seem to be following the Koch brothers directions.
  - skybrian 8y ago
    I think you underestimate the power of personal drama to drive away other news. "Tesla sales up" isn't so exciting outside the business / car enthusiast pages. Musk, on the other hand, is a celebrity. That means everything he does gets a lot of attention whether it's important or not. He successfully used personal drama for many years to gain attention. Recently this celebrity focus turned on him. A conspiracy isn't needed to keep the media focused on celebrities; to the extent one exists, it's redundant.
cliftonk 8y ago
Who upvotes this? The backlash against Musk and Tesla is solely through Musk’s behavior. He acts like a penny stock fraudster and the negative press he receives is because of the Koch brothers? Surely Soros also owes my girlfriend a lot of money for protesting. Having created great products is no excuse for this kind of behavior.
- neo4sure 8y ago
  The article is not talking about a backlash it is simply stating the number of negative articles is a part of a coordinated campaign. Musks tweets do muddy the waters and created their own controversy. I think sans his tweets the argument could have been made more clear. Now everyone will just point to the tweets.
woodandsteel 8y ago
I'm not surprised there is a massive, coordinated attack against Musk and Tesla. What surprises and disappoints me is that the mainstream media has fallen for it so completely. One theory I have heard is that the media gets a big part of its advertising revenue from the ICE auto manufaturers, and they have been pressuring them. I don't know if that is true, but it sounds plausible to me.
- Nasrudith 8y ago
  The mainstream media acting like congress courting lobbyists isn't too surprising at this point. Their profits and margins are down from their peak and they were getting bought out by billionaires since Rupert Murdoch at the very least and the trend has continued. They have had an increasingly luddite bent and have grown openly hateful of tech companies as they found themselves losing to fact checking websites and social media in accuracy and wide spread reach. Furthermore they spare the actually widespread hated telecom monopolies like Comcast - who advertise frequently with them. Not soley them but they have many reasons to be biased. Plus their tendency to go with what they think will drive views and money. Tesla's valuation is something that should be legitimately swingy in my opinion - their future path while it has longterm viability how long until setbacks slow advances or allow others to catch up or surpass them. There are plenty of pioneering companies who made great strides in a field only to ultimately go bankrupt. Electric cars are a clear part of the future given efficiency and many reasons to improve batteries aside from them but Tesla being the one to end up in the lead much less a winner on year by year time tables is less certain. Disclaimer I own a few shares of TSLA in case it becomes the next big thing. A small loss so far but it may rise again.

33 points by neo4sure 8y ago

skybrian 8y ago

Maybe, but it's Musk's own tweets that really get people's attention, and you can't blame outsiders for them.

woodandsteel 8y ago
But you can blame the mainstream media for not also reporting all the good news about Tesla. It seems clear they have made an editorial decision to only tell bad stories. It's especially puzzling because the MM is very concerned about global climate change, and that problem can't be solved withuout EV's, so you would expect them to be big Tesla boosters. Instead they seem to be following the Koch brothers directions.
- skybrian 8y ago
  I think you underestimate the power of personal drama to drive away other news. "Tesla sales up" isn't so exciting outside the business / car enthusiast pages. Musk, on the other hand, is a celebrity. That means everything he does gets a lot of attention whether it's important or not. He successfully used personal drama for many years to gain attention. Recently this celebrity focus turned on him. A conspiracy isn't needed to keep the media focused on celebrities; to the extent one exists, it's redundant.

cliftonk 8y ago

Who upvotes this? The backlash against Musk and Tesla is solely through Musk’s behavior. He acts like a penny stock fraudster and the negative press he receives is because of the Koch brothers? Surely Soros also owes my girlfriend a lot of money for protesting. Having created great products is no excuse for this kind of behavior.

neo4sure 8y ago
The article is not talking about a backlash it is simply stating the number of negative articles is a part of a coordinated campaign. Musks tweets do muddy the waters and created their own controversy. I think sans his tweets the argument could have been made more clear. Now everyone will just point to the tweets.

woodandsteel 8y ago

I'm not surprised there is a massive, coordinated attack against Musk and Tesla. What surprises and disappoints me is that the mainstream media has fallen for it so completely. One theory I have heard is that the media gets a big part of its advertising revenue from the ICE auto manufaturers, and they have been pressuring them. I don't know if that is true, but it sounds plausible to me.

Nasrudith 8y ago
The mainstream media acting like congress courting lobbyists isn't too surprising at this point. Their profits and margins are down from their peak and they were getting bought out by billionaires since Rupert Murdoch at the very least and the trend has continued. They have had an increasingly luddite bent and have grown openly hateful of tech companies as they found themselves losing to fact checking websites and social media in accuracy and wide spread reach. Furthermore they spare the actually widespread hated telecom monopolies like Comcast - who advertise frequently with them. Not soley them but they have many reasons to be biased. Plus their tendency to go with what they think will drive views and money. Tesla's valuation is something that should be legitimately swingy in my opinion - their future path while it has longterm viability how long until setbacks slow advances or allow others to catch up or surpass them. There are plenty of pioneering companies who made great strides in a field only to ultimately go bankrupt. Electric cars are a clear part of the future given efficiency and many reasons to improve batteries aside from them but Tesla being the one to end up in the lead much less a winner on year by year time tables is less certain. Disclaimer I own a few shares of TSLA in case it becomes the next big thing. A small loss so far but it may rise again.