“The Difficulties of Independent Automotive Journalism and the Role of Access Journalism”

Offtopic, but it is extremely difficult to conduct independent automotive journalism. It is a form of “Access Journalism” where it is virtually impossible for outsiders to write about something without the subject you are writing about contributing to it.

When a car brand launches a new off-road car, they invite a hundred car journalists for an all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai to test the new car in the sand dunes. Or, an Italian supercar and the Monza circuit, that’s also possible. All long before such a car is at the dealership. Some media have lead times of weeks or months.

Such a company then only invites journalists from whom they expect a good review. As a journalist you can want to be independent, but then you won’t have the chance until months later when you’ve been able to get one for a test drive from a dealer (perhaps without saying you’re a journalist). And then of course all your colleagues have written about it for a long time and it is no longer news.

Car companies therefore have almost complete control over the press launch of new models. And that is the piece of car news that many people want to see / hear / read.

[Reactie gewijzigd door Maurits van Baerle op 15 mei 2023 14:04]