Just after my piece on motor journalism appeared in the July edition of The Media I was invited to discuss “why motoring journalists only say nice things about cars” on the Between the Lines programme on e.tv. The programme was inexplicably cancelled at the last moment and I haven’t heard a thing since, which is a great pity because it’s a hot topic to debate judging by the reaction I received from the article. Being a cynical bastard, the only explanation I can think of is that one of the motor manufacturers got to hear of it and threatened to withdraw advertising if the programme went ahead. Obviously, if this conspiracy theory is wrong then there’s no reason why we shouldn’t discuss the state of motoring journalism live on air assuming, of course, that we can find a few people to defend the practice of reproducing the manufacturers’ press releases word for word and putting their own names to them. Incidentally, this has nothing to do with journalistic ineptitude or even laziness. It’s just the way the motor manufacturers prefer things, and plenty of motoring journalists are happy to oblige for a number of reasons.
Firstly, there is that all-important matter of advertising, which can be used as a threat or an inducement. Then there are the cars themselves. Once you’ve been iced out by a motor manufacturer, the only way you’ll ever get to drive their products is to borrow, hire or buy them. Finally there are the motor launches.
Those of us who have gulped greedily from the bottomless cup of motor industry hospitality have good reason to stay matey with the motor companies. We travel business class, stay at the top hotels, eat the best food, drink the finest wines and have our bar bills paid for. None of us will ever want for ballpoint pens or baseball caps, but some launches go even further, handing out jackets, shoes and shirts. There are around 110 new product launches this year, which means that any really astute motoring “journalist” could have been fed and watered for free for at least half the year and probably never needed to buy new clothes or own a car.
It’s wonderful, but why do they do it? Is it to thank us for our time and attention or is it to persuade us that we have much to lose by not towing the line? I think it’s the latter and I also think that the situation has become so ridiculous that the tail is now wagging the dog. But if I worked for a motor company I would probably do things the same way. After all, they have a product to sell and adverse comment isn’t good for sales. Write that a car is a piece of crap and will probably explode on impact and your name will drop from all future invitation lists, even if your opinion happens to be right.
By and large the members of the SA Guild of Motoring Journalists (of which I am not a member) are a delightful group of people and I have no desire to offend them. It’s just that I think it would be much better for all concerned if they were to hold an extraordinary AGM and rename themselves the SA Guild of Motoring Industry Publicity Generators because much of what I see coming from their members simply ain’t journalism. My own rather naive view is that the motor manufacturers have far more to gain in the long run if their products are written up by people of integrity. That means taking the rough with the smooth and not sending threatening letters when a journalist criticises the latest model. But let’s get real…nothing will change because too many people have too much to lose and who really gives a toss about journalistic integrity anyway?