Tracker
10-20-2004, 12:18 AM
I am not a big fan of the Edmonton Journal's Driving section, but considering that arrives at my doorstep twice a week and talk about cars, I take the time to read it.
Today I got really p*ssed off with it. 23 pages of advertisement out of 28, and the articles are really biased. Took the time to write a letter to the editor that I want to share with you guys and see what do you think.
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Automobile Xenophobia
Being a self-proclaimed automobile enthusiast, I try to get my fix on auto news by browsing the “Driving” section of the journal every week.
Unfortunately, this task has been more difficult than ever because of the article-advertisement ratio that seems to be increasing lately. Tuesday (October 19th) edition had more than 23 pages of advertisements from a total of 28 pages, which yields a 1:5 article-advertisement ratio. I am sorry, but 80% of advertisement is a little bit too high.
Trying to concentrate on the 5 pages left with something useful, I managed to find that:
a) Mr. Alex Law hates German luxury carmakers, based on his opinions from his two articles in this edition. “Audi A6 exclusivity comes with super price tag” and “Europeans sending more pricey products our way” have such biased title and comments that is hard to believe that they are not paid advertisement from the Big Three. Maybe Mr. Law should get a raise so he can afford German luxury cars without whining so much.
b) Some people are still thinking about the future (“Rocker hopes more will follow hybrid route”) while other don’t really care (“U.S. moves to cut SUV tax advantage”). Although fuel efficiency is a very important issue, I look through the window and think about other subjects that could be more important to us right now, like winter driving conditions or snow tires.
c) In the last article, the new Mustang 2005 is presented as a wonderful car, and not a single negative point was raised in the article that was not squished by the author with his personal opinion. I don’t want to see new cars bashed, but putting them on a pedestal without pointing the problems is bad journalism. Do I still smell paid advertisement? Well, let’s see how the “box office” reacts to the retro-remake of the “quintessential pony car”.
Another thing that has bothered me for some time now is the fact that EVERY TIME that a Japanese or European brand is mentioned, the article makes a point in notice that this or that brand is owned by one of the big three. It is so blatant that sometimes the article even tries to reverse the fact that a European company owns one of the Big Three; otherwise I am sure that the order of the merged names would be different.
I really hope that something change, otherwise the only reason I will have to browse the “Driving” section of Friday’s newspaper is to find the comics page.
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Does anyone else feel like me?? :furious:
Tracker.
Today I got really p*ssed off with it. 23 pages of advertisement out of 28, and the articles are really biased. Took the time to write a letter to the editor that I want to share with you guys and see what do you think.
================================================== =======
Automobile Xenophobia
Being a self-proclaimed automobile enthusiast, I try to get my fix on auto news by browsing the “Driving” section of the journal every week.
Unfortunately, this task has been more difficult than ever because of the article-advertisement ratio that seems to be increasing lately. Tuesday (October 19th) edition had more than 23 pages of advertisements from a total of 28 pages, which yields a 1:5 article-advertisement ratio. I am sorry, but 80% of advertisement is a little bit too high.
Trying to concentrate on the 5 pages left with something useful, I managed to find that:
a) Mr. Alex Law hates German luxury carmakers, based on his opinions from his two articles in this edition. “Audi A6 exclusivity comes with super price tag” and “Europeans sending more pricey products our way” have such biased title and comments that is hard to believe that they are not paid advertisement from the Big Three. Maybe Mr. Law should get a raise so he can afford German luxury cars without whining so much.
b) Some people are still thinking about the future (“Rocker hopes more will follow hybrid route”) while other don’t really care (“U.S. moves to cut SUV tax advantage”). Although fuel efficiency is a very important issue, I look through the window and think about other subjects that could be more important to us right now, like winter driving conditions or snow tires.
c) In the last article, the new Mustang 2005 is presented as a wonderful car, and not a single negative point was raised in the article that was not squished by the author with his personal opinion. I don’t want to see new cars bashed, but putting them on a pedestal without pointing the problems is bad journalism. Do I still smell paid advertisement? Well, let’s see how the “box office” reacts to the retro-remake of the “quintessential pony car”.
Another thing that has bothered me for some time now is the fact that EVERY TIME that a Japanese or European brand is mentioned, the article makes a point in notice that this or that brand is owned by one of the big three. It is so blatant that sometimes the article even tries to reverse the fact that a European company owns one of the Big Three; otherwise I am sure that the order of the merged names would be different.
I really hope that something change, otherwise the only reason I will have to browse the “Driving” section of Friday’s newspaper is to find the comics page.
================================================== =======
Does anyone else feel like me?? :furious:
Tracker.