Elon Musk fans, and Musk himself, have taken to social media to claim that the mainstream media is biased against the Tesla Cybertruck because of how the explosion of a Cybertruck in Las Vegas was covered. They’ve been comparing it the coverage of the involvement of a Ford pickup truck in a terror attack in New Orleans, and claiming reasonable differences in how the events were covered are somehow a signifier of anti-Tesla bias.
As if often the case with these sorts of things, it’s a bunch of bull dung.
The complaint from Musk and Musk fans seems to be this — the Cybertruck is getting prominent mention in coverage of the Vegas attack while some articles are simply saying “truck” or “pickup truck” instead of calling out the truck used in New Orleans — which appears to be a Ford F-150 Lightning — by name.
Musk may even sue over it.
So, somehow, that’s anti-Tesla bias? To borrow a favorite Ron White line: “I don’t think so, Scooter.”
There are huge differences at play here. For one thing, the conversation about electric vehicles — not just those sold by Tesla — catching fire has been well covered, so when an EV explodes in a high-profile place, that’s going to make news. That’s especially true given the coverage around the Cybertruck — one of the most polarizing vehicles of all time, and one that Musk himself has hyped endlessly — as well as Musk’s connections to Donald Trump, whose family owns the hotel.
Every report I read was careful to note that the cause was unclear — at least until we knew more. I know I was careful in our initial post.*
*And for those saying that the video should’ve made it clear that the explosion was caused by fireworks — it didn’t. I watched the video several times before posting and I had no idea what the cause was. We’re not all munitions experts and grainy surveillance video can make things look unclear.
As soon as video of the Las Vegas incident started to circulate, it was clear a Cybertruck was involved. So of course that would be mentioned in headlines. In New Orleans, the make and model of vehicle involved mattered less than how it was used. Not to mention, any type of vehicle can be driven into a crowd. While EVs are still under scrutiny for fires.
As noted, there’s also a Donald Trump/Elon Musk connection here — the Cybertruck was detonated outside a Trump hotel. Musk has been working alongside president-elect Trump on various initiatives. So when the current Tesla model that gets the most attention blows up outside a Trump property, that’s going to be noted in headlines.
There are other issues with the Muskovite claims. A little poking around shows that most, though not all, outlets have identified the vehicle used in the New Orleans accident as a Ford — so it’s not like the media was ignoring the make and model. And, again, even if some outlets used more generic terms like “pickup truck” that doesn’t mean there’s an anti-Tesla bias at play. The Cybertruck is at the center of the Las Vegas story — of course it will be mentioned prominently.
Finally, for those like Utah senator Mike Lee ® claiming that it’s “defamation” for the Associated Press to say the Cybertruck “catches fire and explodes” in a headline, well, it’s not. Nor are the headlines listed here defamatory. The truck did catch fire and explode! That’s factually accurate! It was initially unknown what caused the fire, and the AP did update its headline once the cause was known.
For something to be defamatory, generally speaking, the publication must either knowingly be lying or acting with a reckless disregard for the truth. The AP’s initial headline and the others cited were factually accurate.
Nor were they meant to make it sound as if the Cybertruck was at fault. They were as neutral and factually accurate as possible.
But some people, for reasons I cannot and never will understand, feel the need to leap to the defense of the Cybertruck and/or Tesla for no apparent reason.
It should go without saying that a headline saying “Cybertruck explodes outside Trump Hotel, killing 1” is not meant to disparage the truck — it’s just meant to spell out what happened.
And yes, there is additional context here — EVs, including those made by OEMs other than Tesla, occasionally do explode. So when an EV does explode, on surveillance camera in front of a well-known property connected to the president-elect, who has a connection to the owner of the company producing said EV, it’s going to make news, no matter what the cause. So the basic fact is that a Tesla Cybertruck exploded. That’s what was initially reported, accurately. Updates then provided the cause once it was known.
Perhaps Musk and company would have a point if media outlets reported it as mechanical failure without evidence. But to my knowledge, no large mainstream media outlet or automotive-focused outlet did that.
Elon Musk, Mike Lee, and others should be smart enough to know this. But either they aren’t that smart, or they are but they’re using uninformed and/or bad-faith cries of defamation as a cynical victimization ploy to drum up sympathy — and sales. The process is this — claim the media is “biased” against you because your truck is just too cool and the nerds in media don’t want to admit it, since so many people have criticized it. Including yours truly.
It also serves as a defense if a Cybertruck ever does blow up do to mechanical failure. It can’t possibly be Tesla’s fault — the media is just claiming it is out of “bias.”
I am tired of this intellectually dishonest rhetorical strategy. Unfortunately, it works so well that Tesla doesn’t even need a PR department.
That’s in part because media literacy in this country is very, very low. And in part because Tesla and Musk have a weirdly intense fandom.
I just wish that should another Cybertruck be used as a bomb in the future, Musk and friends will understand that if the media writes factually accurate, neutral headlines about the truck’s involvement, they won’t take it as bias.
I am not holding my breath.
[Images: Anna Moneymaker/Shutterstock.com, Tesla]
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Source: The Truth About Cars