Shameless ABC News Requests And Receives Award For Brian Ross's Fakery

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

While Toyota is still waiting for an apology for the fakery on network TV, a visibly unrepentant ABC News proudly declares:

“ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross and the ABC News Investigative Team have been awarded the 2011 National Edward R. Murrow Award for “Video Continuing Coverage” for their exclusive investigation that revealed how Toyota had for years ignored complaints from hundreds of its owners about cars suddenly accelerating out of control.”

Investor’s Business Daily says the Radio Television Digital News Association, which handed out the award, “must be made up of the only people on Earth who didn’t know that the story fell apart.” It gets even better. Brazen ABC submitted Ross’s work for the contest.

Says Investor’s Business Daily:

“One would think that any reputable media association would refuse to hand out an award for coverage of a story that was in fact devoid of any substance. But one would be wrong.”

“Ross by himself did not drive down Toyota’s market value and sales. But he’s the correspondent who staged the famous “death ride” in a Toyota set up to accelerate without driver input. And it was Ross’ report that featured a doctored shot of a tachometer suddenly racing to 6,000 rpm.”

Toyota had been long exonerated from any computer malfunction by NASA and NHTSA. The malfunctions in the mainstream media continue unabated.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • ClutchCarGo ClutchCarGo on Jun 21, 2011

    This is like awarding George Tenet the Presidential Medal of Freedom after blowing the Iraqi WMD intel. Instead of admitting a failure, polish the turd with an award!

    • See 2 previous
    • FreedMike FreedMike on Jun 22, 2011

      @Gslippy: I don't suppose you have a Nobel Prize hanging around, do you? Sounds like sour grapes to me...

  • Tced2 Tced2 on Jun 21, 2011

    Brian Ross was a participant in another automotive stunt - GM saddle-gas-tank-gate. While working at NBC, he reported that the gas tanks were more prone to blow up in an accident. His report showed a truck with (undisclosed) fireworks helping with the "demonstration". GM had a conversation with NBC and NBC very publicly retracted the report. Mr. Ross moved to another network (ABC) later.

    • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Jun 21, 2011

      Sure, but he has an urgent tone to his voice that people believe, and people are eager to hear about dangerous man-made technology failures. ABC is part of Disney, after all, where special effects are their bread and butter.

  • Herb Herb on Jun 21, 2011

    I still wonder why this Toyota drama occurred in the US, almost exclusively. Can't be a sorrow state of journalism combined with strange tort laws there. Must be different specs used for Toyota cars delivered to the US. Alien attacks, probably?

    • PintoFan PintoFan on Jun 21, 2011

      No. It was because Toyota is an arcane bureacracy incapable of responding to even the most basic criticisms from the media and the public.

  • PintoFan PintoFan on Jun 21, 2011

    Brian Ross has nothing to apologize for, other than offending the delicate sensibilities of Toyota fans. By doing a series of open and easily replicated tests on a part with a flawed design, no less. Oh well, the anti-Obama and anti-UAW ramblings in this thread just highlight the increased desperation of Toyota's dwindling fanbase. It couldn't possibly be that Toyota manufactures poorly-planned, boring, and ultimately noncompetitive products, or that it cuts corners in design and engineering, or that it failed to respond to criticism in a meaningful way (and still hasn't); it's because a fifth column is trying to undermine a totally innocent foreign company which never made any bad engineering, business, or public-relations decisions, ever.

    • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Jun 21, 2011

      Toyota's 'poorly-planned, boring, and ultimately non-competitive products' are the best-selling cars in the US (pre-tsunami, anyway). I'm not sure what kind of response to its criticism you're expecting from Toyota, but perhaps a 3rd-party evaluation of its products would be appropriate? Oh, wait, that already happened. Toyota has already said there is nothing to see, and so has NASA and the US Government. What else do you want? Toyota's worst business decisions at the moment are the continued existence of Scion and the FT-86 union with Subaru, not some secret UA coverup.

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