5 ms·

This is why I stopped watching Top Gear. None of the "tests" in Top Gear are serious, and most of it is just great entertainment... until it becomes malicious.

by rickmb 15y ago

This is why I stopped watching Top Gear. None of the "tests" in Top Gear are serious, and most of it is just great entertainment... until it becomes malicious. When it comes to subjects like electric cars, or environmentally friendly technology in general, Top Gear has the same ethics as one of Rupert Murdochs tabloids or Fox News.

vaksel 15y ago
do you expect an iPhone blog to give glorious reviews to an Android phone? Taking the guys on Top Gear as legitimate motoring journalists is the same as taking Stephen Colbert as a legitimate Republican. Top Gear is about three idiots who love cars. Watching Top Gear for car buying advice is like watching Jersey Shore for dating advice.
- fossuser 15y ago
  I'd liken it more to The Daily Show actually, a news show with a comedic twist. While there is comedy involved viewers expect what they're seeing not to be lies or fabricated stories. Hiding behind the "we're an entertainment show so we don't have to have facts" whenever someone questions a review is lame.
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
    That's not very accurate. The Daily Show has a history of calling people out on misrepresentation. Jon Stewart went on Hardball (or whatever it was called) and chewed the hosts out for destroying journalism and dialog in America. If you want to liken it to The Daily Show, then all of Top Gear is much more like Stephen Colbert's and Steve Carrel's old bits.
    - redthrowaway 15y ago
      > Jon Stewart went on Hardball (or whatever it was called) Are you referring to his infamous Crossfire appearance? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE
- raganwald 15y ago
  do you expect an iPhone blog to give glorious reviews to an Android phone? Glorious reviews? No. But if Jon Gruber were to make a video deliberately faking an Android tablet's battery running down, I would ask questions. Watching Top Gear for car buying advice is like watching Jersey Shore for dating advice. That’s worth an upmod right there. Thanks for the smile!
- TeMPOraL 15y ago
  > do you expect an iPhone blog to give glorious reviews to an Android phone? Yes. I tend to hold bloggers to higher standards than traditional media. If they write something, I expect it to be true to the best of their knowledge. I stop reading and recommending those who fail to keep up. And that's why I ignore traditional media, and TV in particular. It's sad though, that people no longer seem to expect truth in media. But if we should assume that everything in newspapers/TV news is a bunch of smaller and bigger lies, then why do people bother watching the news?
goblgobl 15y ago
Sorry, but electric cars are not infallible. There are some real issues involved with using them, and people are getting upset because a entertainment show about cars is poking fun at those issues in an exaggerated way. All this sharpening of the pitchforks over ethics/editorial guidelines/facts is just a red herring to debase a TV show that isn't going to march in lockstep with a car manufacturer's marketing literature, or support the environmentalist's point of view that electric cars are utopia. Do note this article is in the environmental section of the guardian. Top Gear bashes all cars of all types. They can be downright offensive (there was a somewhat tasteless joke about mexican cars a while back), but when it comes to electric cars, for some reason there is this clamoring for facts/journalistic integrity, etc in the media. These people don't really care for the show, they just care how electric cars are being portrayed in the media.
- raganwald 15y ago
  I think everyone agrees that electric cars are associated with certain disadvantages with respect to the availability of recharging facilities. The issue raised in this post is not that Top Gear misrepresented how inconvenient running out of charge could be, but that by deliberately running out of charge, ignoring all of the warnings, and by concealing from viewers that they were ignoring all of the warnings, Top Gear misrepresented how easy it is to run out of charge during normal use. All they had to do was say, “The Nissan does a good job of warning you not to run low on charge, but we all know how often people in the real world ignore the out of petrol warning on their cars and run out of fuel. Let’s see what happens if we ignore the warnings and try to drive to Lincolnshire anyways.” Presto, they make their point without maliciously or inadvertantly making another and wrong point.
  - goblgobl 15y ago
    That is precisely why people in this thread repeatedly emphasize its an entertainment show first, car show second. There is a story arc for the show and car reviews. Nissan may have a well designed system to limit blackouts, but in this case it didn't play well with the entertainment/comedic elements of the show. Honestly, do you think this is playing to the facts? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrZy87TmDcs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrZy87TmDcs Do you think afterwards they should mention it wasn't real? They have a narrative, and entertainment/comedy takes priority over car reviews. It only seems to ruffle the feathers of electric car/environmental group - and I posit it has little to do with "presenting the facts" (where is their outrage about the claim that the stig can blink horizontally or is non-human?) and all to do with advancing their agenda.

by rickmb 15y ago

vaksel 15y ago

do you expect an iPhone blog to give glorious reviews to an Android phone? Taking the guys on Top Gear as legitimate motoring journalists is the same as taking Stephen Colbert as a legitimate Republican. Top Gear is about three idiots who love cars. Watching Top Gear for car buying advice is like watching Jersey Shore for dating advice.

fossuser 15y ago
I'd liken it more to The Daily Show actually, a news show with a comedic twist. While there is comedy involved viewers expect what they're seeing not to be lies or fabricated stories. Hiding behind the "we're an entertainment show so we don't have to have facts" whenever someone questions a review is lame.
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  That's not very accurate. The Daily Show has a history of calling people out on misrepresentation. Jon Stewart went on Hardball (or whatever it was called) and chewed the hosts out for destroying journalism and dialog in America. If you want to liken it to The Daily Show, then all of Top Gear is much more like Stephen Colbert's and Steve Carrel's old bits.
  - redthrowaway 15y ago
    > Jon Stewart went on Hardball (or whatever it was called) Are you referring to his infamous Crossfire appearance? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE
raganwald 15y ago
do you expect an iPhone blog to give glorious reviews to an Android phone? Glorious reviews? No. But if Jon Gruber were to make a video deliberately faking an Android tablet's battery running down, I would ask questions. Watching Top Gear for car buying advice is like watching Jersey Shore for dating advice. That’s worth an upmod right there. Thanks for the smile!
TeMPOraL 15y ago
> do you expect an iPhone blog to give glorious reviews to an Android phone? Yes. I tend to hold bloggers to higher standards than traditional media. If they write something, I expect it to be true to the best of their knowledge. I stop reading and recommending those who fail to keep up. And that's why I ignore traditional media, and TV in particular. It's sad though, that people no longer seem to expect truth in media. But if we should assume that everything in newspapers/TV news is a bunch of smaller and bigger lies, then why do people bother watching the news?

goblgobl 15y ago

Sorry, but electric cars are not infallible. There are some real issues involved with using them, and people are getting upset because a entertainment show about cars is poking fun at those issues in an exaggerated way. All this sharpening of the pitchforks over ethics/editorial guidelines/facts is just a red herring to debase a TV show that isn't going to march in lockstep with a car manufacturer's marketing literature, or support the environmentalist's point of view that electric cars are utopia. Do note this article is in the environmental section of the guardian. Top Gear bashes all cars of all types. They can be downright offensive (there was a somewhat tasteless joke about mexican cars a while back), but when it comes to electric cars, for some reason there is this clamoring for facts/journalistic integrity, etc in the media. These people don't really care for the show, they just care how electric cars are being portrayed in the media.

raganwald 15y ago
I think everyone agrees that electric cars are associated with certain disadvantages with respect to the availability of recharging facilities. The issue raised in this post is not that Top Gear misrepresented how inconvenient running out of charge could be, but that by deliberately running out of charge, ignoring all of the warnings, and by concealing from viewers that they were ignoring all of the warnings, Top Gear misrepresented how easy it is to run out of charge during normal use. All they had to do was say, “The Nissan does a good job of warning you not to run low on charge, but we all know how often people in the real world ignore the out of petrol warning on their cars and run out of fuel. Let’s see what happens if we ignore the warnings and try to drive to Lincolnshire anyways.” Presto, they make their point without maliciously or inadvertantly making another and wrong point.
- goblgobl 15y ago
  That is precisely why people in this thread repeatedly emphasize its an entertainment show first, car show second. There is a story arc for the show and car reviews. Nissan may have a well designed system to limit blackouts, but in this case it didn't play well with the entertainment/comedic elements of the show. Honestly, do you think this is playing to the facts? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrZy87TmDcs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrZy87TmDcs Do you think afterwards they should mention it wasn't real? They have a narrative, and entertainment/comedy takes priority over car reviews. It only seems to ruffle the feathers of electric car/environmental group - and I posit it has little to do with "presenting the facts" (where is their outrage about the claim that the stig can blink horizontally or is non-human?) and all to do with advancing their agenda.