The Tom-Tom

Autowriters.com editor Glenn Campbell invites any reader to submit his or her thoughts on this or any other topic pertaining to automotive journalism or the auto world in general.

I Told You So

Three outstanding candidates for the “I told you so” award are Dan Neil of the Los Angeles Times, Robert Farago of The Truth About Cars web site and Peter DeLorenzo, of The Auto Extremist web site. Each richly deserves consideration for predicting what General Motors is now admitting in supplications before Congress.

Glenn F. Campbell

Neil earned his shot at the award a few years back by stating in the midst of a new car review that the top executives of the company that made it should be fired. Farago easily qualifies with the steady drumbeat of the “GM Death Watch” dirge on his web site which had 222 verses at last look. And Delorenzo made the finals with his frequent rants making cogent pleas for rapid change at the car maker.

Neil got plenty of bang for his two-cents worth of opinion. GM withdrew its corporate advertising from the paper and strenuously sought similar action by all of its dealers in the market. When that brought nearly universal bad press, top executives took a jet to Los Angeles and reached a curious agreement with the Times: the advertising would return, Neil could continue to review cars as he saw them but, apparently, the Pulitzer prize-winning writer would not be able to draw any conclusions about the leadership of the company that made them. Later on in an Orwellian twist, GM’s PR vice president at the time was fired and renewed efforts to change the public’s perception of the company were undertaken.

Farago hammered on his obsession with GM’s fatal flaws to the extent that it became routine and its news and shock value diminished. He however, did not have the marketing clout of the Los Angeles Times and his reward was being ignored by GM and he and his writers deprived of press cars to drive. In fairness, Farago’s ability as one writer put it, “to never find a car he couldn’t diss” earned him similar treatment by other car makers.

Delorenzo comes to the awards podium from another tack. Armed with extensive insider contacts, a ton of experience in the marketing of cars and a serious understanding of how cars are made and perform, he has been the loyal opposition, making critiques intended to spur change in a company he obviously wanted to succeed. In return, he has been neither challenged nor shunned and certainly has been an outlet for GM workers thirsting for change. Possibly he was even used by GM to leak and thereby condition the public at a much slower pace to the inevitable blows that came rapidly once the company turned to Washington for help.

However, the “I Told You So” award would hardly be icing on Neil’s much frosted journalistic cake. For DeLorenzo, it would be a bitter reminder of what he did not want to happen, at least in this fashion. That leaves Farago as the recipient with full rights to say it as often as he chooses. Otherwise, as recounted, there seems little profit in being a prophet - one is proscribed, another denied and a third co-opted.

Paul Weissler, IMPA Membership Chairman, responds to the anonymous veteran member who last month questioned the professionalism of some of the newer members in attendance at IMPA’s recent Test Days. 

What It Means To Be An IMPA Member

I obviously don’t know who the IMPA member is who questioned the online members we have, but he doesn’t have to fear giving his name. People often ask me how we qualify members with online credentials as journalists, and the basic rule is simple: you have to be earning “bill-paying money” for your work (as opposed to some nominal amounts that might cover a McDonald’s lunch). That’s our definition of a “professional,” and my membership co-chair Shari Hartford, who processes the applications, is relentless in vetting applicants for that qualification, as well as determining validity of “clips” submitted.

Paul Weissler

If you’re running a website, it has to be as a money-making venture. We check web traffic rankings, review content and look for a “revenue stream” that would justify the time invested as a professional venture. Further, I have personally done face-to-face interviews with applicants. We also work with car makers to check their assessments, but the final call is that of the membership committee. And believe me, we turn down a lot of membership applications every year, including people to whom the car makers lend cars. All that said, we don’t require that you earn your primary income from automotive journalism, only that you have recent clips and earn professional pay for it.

Read the rest of this entry »

When I was asked to write about the future of automotive journalism, I was honored. My blog caught the attention of someone and they asked me to expand on my viewpoints. I enjoyed the chance to speak up.

My earlier article received some interesting feedback and I felt the desire to expand on my thoughts with a piece I wrote a while back.

I’ve been working in and around the automotive industry for a number of years and it always amazes me that there is such a wide variety of abilities in the people who are supposed to be the face to the public and the media. There are people who you will go out of your way to see at every event and there are people you will avoid as if your life (and more importantly, your sanity) depended on it. I remember a woman who worked at Honda that everyone spoke of in only the most glowing terms and there were similar people Subaru and Ford. But unfortunately, it’s the people on the other end of the spectrum that you tend to remember the most.

I was walking around a public car show where a Slovakian kit car called the K1 Attack was shown. As I walked over, I noticed that someone was being interviewed just in front of the car. The videographer was setting up so I quickly snapped a picture or two before they were ready for the camera to roll.

As I walked away, the interviewer tried to impress his interviewee by making some disparaging remark about the audacity of any schmo with a camera, obviously trying to put himself on a plane higher than me. He was obviously younger than me so I was to assume that, unless he had been interviewing people since he was in diapers, I had more experience than him. But because I didn’t have an entourage or a broadcast-quality video camera, I must be one of the unwashed masses. I felt secure enough that I didn’t have to flash the media credentials in my pocket just to make myself feel important.

And because I’m a nice person, I didn’t embarrass this cub reporter in front of his “big interview.”

Now, as I’m reading what I’ve written, I feel like you, the reader, are going to get the wrong idea of me. I love working in this industry. Aside from that rare person, I’ve enjoyed the company of most automotive people (media, PR, and others) that I’ve met along the way. I do not, in any way, want you to think that I think highly of myself, because I don’t.

But when others put me down, I will get a bit defensive. Read the rest of this entry »