3 ms·

This is really damning. I became way more suspicious when Mr. Broder started trying to weasel in lots of C.Y.A. wiggle room once Elon called his bluff: "Mr. Mu

by bfe 14y ago

This is really damning. I became way more suspicious when Mr. Broder started trying to weasel in lots of C.Y.A. wiggle room once Elon called his bluff: "Mr. Musk’s logs may show I hit 75 m.p.h. for a mile or two during my trip, although it was likely before, rather than after, the Newark stop..." [1] Suddenly he needed three conditionals in just one sentence: "may", "a mile or two" (now he's not so sure), and "likely". Given all the hard data here that contradict the original story and show intentional shenanigans like laps around a parking lot, plus the evidence of Mr. Broder's stated a priori irrational bias against electric cars, it's hard to see how this might end up without a retraction from the Times. And once again I think all the Times's griping about industry disruption is a secondary matter and a distraction from the fact that it's consistently not actually a very good news source. 1. http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/the-charges-are-flying-over-a-test-of-teslas-charging-network/ http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/the-charges-are-f...

DrDreams 14y ago
I am only small time compared to all of these folks. However, I will share my brief story: I invented something somewhat nifty. It got lots of media attention. When the NYT wrote about it in their ideas-of-the-year mini-magazine, the reporter had definite ideas of what he wanted to say about it. He tried every way to coerce me into saying my device did this and that. Eventually, he got me to the point of saying something that wasn't strictly true about the device, but I conceded could possibly be true and I felt like this point about it didn't really matter. And so that's what was printed. That set off a major revolution in my mind. I had already been through a few media lessons, such as appearing on numerous blogs and seeing all the different errors and distortions and being on Slashdot listening to all of the people argue authoritatively about things I knew were wrong because they were about my work. I was already skeptical of the media, having learned Chomsky/Zimmerman's "Media Mode." The NYT experience took the cake, though. It made me realize just how hard publishers are looking for material to make stories with. And that's just about a student-with-a-gadget end-of-year story. I can't imagine how much more distorted and intense it gets when millions of dollars of investor money are involved. Let the reader beware. Disclaimer: I do like the idea of electric cars, even though I am far from being able to afford one and I drive a gas one with average-to-decent mileage (93 Honda Accord).

by bfe 14y ago

DrDreams 14y ago

I am only small time compared to all of these folks. However, I will share my brief story: I invented something somewhat nifty. It got lots of media attention. When the NYT wrote about it in their ideas-of-the-year mini-magazine, the reporter had definite ideas of what he wanted to say about it. He tried every way to coerce me into saying my device did this and that. Eventually, he got me to the point of saying something that wasn't strictly true about the device, but I conceded could possibly be true and I felt like this point about it didn't really matter. And so that's what was printed. That set off a major revolution in my mind. I had already been through a few media lessons, such as appearing on numerous blogs and seeing all the different errors and distortions and being on Slashdot listening to all of the people argue authoritatively about things I knew were wrong because they were about my work. I was already skeptical of the media, having learned Chomsky/Zimmerman's "Media Mode." The NYT experience took the cake, though. It made me realize just how hard publishers are looking for material to make stories with. And that's just about a student-with-a-gadget end-of-year story. I can't imagine how much more distorted and intense it gets when millions of dollars of investor money are involved. Let the reader beware. Disclaimer: I do like the idea of electric cars, even though I am far from being able to afford one and I drive a gas one with average-to-decent mileage (93 Honda Accord).