If Tanner Foust was given the keys to a Volkswagen GTI or Golf R, and told to track it at Willow Springs, all while being filmed by Volkswagen, what do you think the VW-sponsored professional driver would say about it?
Yeah, exactly. Seems CarBuzz either didn’t know or flat-out forgot to mention that Foust is sponsored by VW when it wrote a quick piece on how Foust was touting the virtues of the two cars. A piece that appears to be based on a Volkswagen media release.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I have friendly professional relationships with at least two CarBuzz employees, though I don’t know the author of this piece, and we’ve sometimes cited them as a news source — we’ve not yet had any reason to suspect they aren’t credible.
And in the interest of fairness, it really is possible the author either didn’t know about Foust’s connections to VW, or did and just honestly forget to make mention. It would be unfair of us to accuse CarBuzz of intentionally publishing a piece that reads like advertorial content as news without any evidence.
That said, we can call them out for failing to make mention of Foust’s Volkswagen ties, with the hopes of a correction if it was an honest mistake.
Even the site’s own commenters called them out for the oversight.
We’re not calling CarBuzz out for publishing the piece — we might, on a slow news day (and thus far, today appears to be a very slow news day), pluck that story and reblog it. But we’d mention Foust’s connection to VW and remind you, the reader, that Foust is unlikely to say anything bad, at least publicly, about those cars.
And if we goofed and forgot, we’d correct as soon as possible.
I don’t have any evidence to suggest CarBuzz is in any way biased towards VW. But even assuming they aren’t, a mistake like this can cause that perception. Which is a reminder to journalists to be careful to get facts right and provide necessary context, and a reminder to readers to use critical thinking when consuming content.
[Image: Volkswagen]
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The number of people who weren’t previously considering one of these cars, but now are because of this specific review, must number in the dozens.
The VW and Rockstar hat, the R logo shirt, guess he was just wearing those when he showed up at the track? Come on, anyone who knows who Tanner is fully aware that he works for VeeDub. Slow news day indeed… this is much to do about nothing.
Sure has the whiff of buying a review, don’t it?
Seriously? How about some actual in depth articles like were mentioned months ago, instead of calling out some other websites article?
What a cowardly post. The entire post is written around calling out either unethical or careless work of another site- those are the options. And if the author blew it, where is the managing editor? Then you go on to say you are not ‘calling them out’. So then why bother or is preserving future job propects your motivator? They committed a major sin in journalism and they SHOULD be called out for it-full stop.
There is a You Tube car reviewer i had followed and who seemed credible-that was until a live chat in which he repeatedly professed all new cars were high quality with only minor differences. Um no, you just want to be on the next junket to earn your living-bye, bye.
Any one that believes any internet review is a fool. One way or another they are bought and paid for and influencers are the worst.
Exactly. You’re not “calling them out” but this sure seems like a call out to me. And if the facts presented are all true, then they should be called out.
But either way, what a complete waste of time.
This guy needs an invite to next year’s SRX to see if he’s actually got any racing bona fides.
TTAC calls out a rival for not pointing out the driver works for Vee Dub but once again we get a clickbait piece about face masks…..
This Tim Healey non-writeup is the single dumbest thing I’ve ever read on this site.
Is this really any different than TTAC’s “Best Automotive Product” reviews?
They read like ad copy, I’m unsure whether the items were actually tested, there’s a link to buy said product and its all presented in the form of an article.
Nope! My guess is that the authors pick from decently-rated items in an Amazon search, though in fairness, it’s usually indicated in the copy that the author has used or owns a product in question.
I always love the irony that the anti-vaxxers blithely ignore the fact that they had to have required vaccines to attend school. I won’t comment on how much of their schooling was effective. As we grew older we had to get booster shots for our 1st rounds of vaccines. If you’re a veteran you got vaccines for all sorts of weird stuff. Or as Jeremy Clarkson would say “diseases only heard of in a 1930’s black and white movie.” My union used to make tetanus shots mandatory. Cause and affect, I used to work around metal all day. I do feel sorry for then poster whose wife (I think) had extended symptoms. I was at the grocery store today. The parking lot wasn’t 70% handicapped parking because we’ve all received polio vaccinations. Conversely, I saw people below senior citizen-aged people wearing masks. It just gets down to numbers; there is a direct correlation between the non-vaccinated and rising hospital rates. Masks form a physical barrier against airborne pathogens. The filthy non-vaccinated people need to understand that their rights end and mine begin at the end of my nose. I just want a t-shirt that says: BOOOGA! VACCINATED! BOOGA!
First it was announced 12,313 had died as a direct result of the covid treatments.
Then the figured reduced to *only* 6,207, because oops our bad.
https://trialsitenews.com/cdc-shares-vaers-for-covid-19-vaccines-12313-reports-of-deaths-but-no-causal-link-according-to-agency/
Less than 50 died as a result of the failed Swine Flu vaccine in 1976:
“Federal officials urged widespread vaccinations after swine flu broke out among soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey, killing one of the 14 diagnosed with the illness. But the program was suspended after at least 25 people died from vaccine reactions. Other estimates put the death toll at 32 people, while about 500 others later suffered from Guillain-Barre syndrome, which damages nerves and can lead to paralysis.
The results cost Dr. David Sencer his job as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was fired in 1977, after 11 years on the job. Now 84 and retired, he said this week that health officials “acted on the best knowledge that we had and believed that we were doing the right thing.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/30/swine.flu.1976/index.html
Are your “rights” worth 32 lives? 6,207? 12,313? 100,000? How about the tens to hundreds of thousands who have experienced medium to severe health problems such as blood clots and other heart issues?
Was Stalin’s murderous lieutenant Lazar Kaganovich right, why worry about a few broken eggs when making an omlette?
Here’s the next thing I am planning to become outraged about:
https://carbuzz.com/news/ford-bronco-owners-have-the-strangest-problem