Media Analysis
The unbearable liteness of a Rambler Marlin ad story
One low-cost way for an auto media outlet to post a 24/7 flow of content is to draw upon old car ads. This is business as usual for the The Daily Drive and its sibling, […]
Media Analysis
Media Analysis
Brock Yates’ death deserves deeper thinking
Stories about the death of long-time automotive journalist Brock Yates quite rightly emphasized his most popular exploits. For example, his creation of the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash illustrated Yates’ flare for publicity stunts at […]
Media Analysis
Auto media on Tesla: See no climate change
The jury is still out on whether Tesla can meet its lofty goals, but the automaker deserves credit for a paradigm-rattling marketing campaign. In unveiling its Model 3, Tesla emphasized the need for an aggressive response to […]
Media Analysis
Automotive News muffles the alarm
Keith Crain is the closest thing the American auto industry has to a minister of groupthink, so it is worth noting when the editor-in-chief of Automotive News furrows his brow. In a late-December column he criticized […]
Media Analysis
TTAC helps Chrysler go pavlovian
The third-generation Dodge Challenger has always run a distant third in sales to the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, arguably because of it is the most extreme caricature of a pony car. The chunky, almost […]
Media Analysis
2015 Mustang: How obesity is justified
Except for relatively rare moments of downsizing, the dominant tendency in the American auto industry is toward bigger, glitzier and more powerful vehicles. Each time a car adds poundage, the automaker — usually with the […]
Media Analysis
The truth about cut-and-spin journalism
We have previously discussed how the relentless pressure for content at 24/7 automotive websites can lead to basic errors (go here). A more subtle but common problem is cut-and-spin journalism. This is where a harried […]
Media Analysis
Is the love affair with the car really over?
American society’s relationship with the automobile is changing but the press corps hasn’t kept up. That’s the theme of a cover story in the journalism field’s leading professional magazine. The November/December edition of the Columbia Journalism […]
Media Analysis
Does the Internet dumb down auto history?
In some respects the rise of the web has been the best thing that ever happened to American automotive history. Just click on Google’s “images” tab and you instantly have access to far more pictures […]
Media Analysis
Seattle Times plays ‘gotcha’ on hybrids
I am of mixed mind about Andrew Garber’s (2012) Seattle Times “expose” on state purchases of hybrid SUVs. On the one hand, we need more reporting that shines a spotlight on state government. That can be […]