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Tesla dissolves its PR department

electrek.co

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Re: Tesla dissolves its PR department

#61

Post by gerland »

unethical_ban wrote: post #34
prasooncc wrote: post #11

Good for them. Why do we need a biased filter (journalists) between customer and company.if it is damage recovery journalists and their employers can be easily bought for cash.in this world of direct communication it would be childish to assume papers and journalists are still relevant

"Why do we need journalists?" The same reason we need them for any other set of reasons: To do full-time work investigating different angles of current events and to provide, often, a less-biased report on things. Of course, eliminating PR =/= eliminating journalists, so this comment is off the tracks anyway.

So, are they doing this job?

Re: Tesla dissolves its PR department

#62

Post by gerland »

simion314 wrote: post #26
prasooncc wrote: post #11

Good for them. Why do we need a biased filter (journalists) between customer and company.if it is damage recovery journalists and their employers can be easily bought for cash.in this world of direct communication it would be childish to assume papers and journalists are still relevant

Because trust, I seen yesterday some customer reporting a dangerous Tesla quality issue on reddit and it was "attacked" by fanboys and strong evidence was requested. If a journalist would like to report this problem then you would probably like Tesla to have some competent person to respond but seems you prefer the "Tesla did not responds to journalists anymore". Btw I am referring to this post https://www.reddit.com…

You know what else is dangerous? An inner circle kabal that can destroy anyone with an allegation that will get retracted 6 months later. A group of people beyond any control and that suffers no consequences. Maybe also a group of people that understands only doublespeak at this point. I have not love for EM, but at least he is in a position in which he can stand against their attacks.

Re: Tesla dissolves its PR department

#64

Post by hef19898 »

hnracer wrote: post #51
panpanna wrote: post #22

Wait, reddit is shutting down??

Reddit has a lot of anti-Elon users, I'm not sure that on net the users of that site support him/Tesla.

Every PR is good PR, as long as your name is written correct. Or something along these lines.

Re: Tesla dissolves its PR department

#65

Post by whywhywhywhy »

unethical_ban wrote: post #34
prasooncc wrote: post #11

Good for them. Why do we need a biased filter (journalists) between customer and company.if it is damage recovery journalists and their employers can be easily bought for cash.in this world of direct communication it would be childish to assume papers and journalists are still relevant

"Why do we need journalists?" The same reason we need them for any other set of reasons: To do full-time work investigating different angles of current events and to provide, often, a less-biased report on things. Of course, eliminating PR =/= eliminating journalists, so this comment is off the tracks anyway.

>and to provide, often, a less-biased report on things.

This isn't what a journalist does at all though and I think they're pretty honest about this if asked.

At best they take the facts and induce bias to provide them in a way that is most palatable to their audience and mirrors the belief of their audience to get more views and therefore more ad impressions. At worst they see themselves as a class above normal people and their job is to ensure the people below them think the right way.

Essentially in a world where the actual events is transmitted via video over social media moments after they occur, seems pretty redundant that we need it filtered through biased individuals who's business only existed because newspapers used to be the most efficient way of doing that.

Re: Tesla dissolves its PR department

#66

Post by modeless »

netsharc wrote: post #50
TeeWEE wrote: post #17

Thea reasons PR department exists because you have a PR problem. Not having the problem is better.

"A Tesla rep just called me racial slur.". Tweet goes viral. There you go, do you need a PR deparment now? If it's your CEO doing that job, that's a bad use of the CEO's time.

Why, so they can put out a limply worded two sentence denial for every news outlet in the country to dunk on?

Bad press happens. I'm sure journalists love it when companies engage directly with them but I'm not sure that it results in more favorable coverage on average.

They still have a blog and a Twitter account. If they want to make statements they can tell the public directly instead of favoring specific journalists with private communications.

Re: Tesla dissolves its PR department

#67

Post by CrazyStat »

netsharc wrote: post #57
CrazyStat wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What new information has disenchanted you? Full disclaimer: happy Tesla owner here.

Not original commenter, but for one thing, all the emissions being saved by Teslas being electric? Tesla sold the credits to Fiat/Chrysler so their cars can have higher emissions: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/23/teslas-sale-of-environmental... My math is wonky, does that mean on average, a Tesla is just as polluting as a Fiat/Chrysler car?

I'm not sure I understand your point.

Tesla was awarded tradeable regulatory credits. They didn't have any use for them, so they sold them. I suppose they could have just sat on them and refused to sell.

There are valid criticisms around the environmental cost of building electric vehicles. There are also valid criticisms of the regulatory environment that Tesla operates in. I'm not convinced, though, that it makes sense to expect Tesla to refuse to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of unneeded credits out of principle.

Re: Tesla dissolves its PR department

#68

Post by whywhywhywhy »

inawarminister wrote: post #30
chrisseaton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the same thought, why do politicians talk to journalists either? For example Trump doesn't trust them... so why does he talk to them at all? Why not just stop inviting the press in? Why not just present your own releases direct to consumer/elector via your website and social media?

In the same vein (in a vastly different field), Nintendo stopped going to industry-wide events and started their own press releases directly to consumers instead - Nintendo Directs. It's been a few years now so seem to be successful, though I confess I'm not that big of a gaming enthusiast as I was before.

Absolutely the right move, in a social media/post-magazine world the journalists need them way more than Nintendo needs journalists.

Seems utterly absurd to be a company that actually builds something of value from nothing to be required to court and curry favor with individuals who only exist to talk about the work of creators and hope they talk about your work positively when instead you can just bypass them and be the master of your own narrative.

Re: Tesla dissolves its PR department

#70

Post by watwut »

im3w1l wrote: post #35
clintonb wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure having the Elon Musk brand be stronger than the Tesla brand is a good thing. He is a bit impulsive and seems like an asshole at times. People put up with it because, so far, his companies have produced some great products. When the other car manufacturers finally catch up to Tesla, the negative perception of the Elon Musk brand may drive some buyers away from Tesla.

The genius stroke is combining modern sensibilities with traditional masculinity. He manages to do solar projects and electric cars, hell even smoking weed, without looking like a hippie. I guess the trick was sci-fi and fast cars.

I dislike the way "traditional masculinity" increasingly seems to used as euphemism for "being asshole".
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