A job description for a news reporter opening at GM Authority sheds light on the brave new world of automotive journalism. The lucky person hired is expected to write seven, 300-word articles per day. That’s 35 articles a week totaling 10,500 words. One is presumably supposed to accomplish this within the regular work week.
“This is not a leisurely job,” notes the job description. “Like any serious news outlet, we have deadlines, and we aim to crank out as much as possible and as fast as possible, at as high a quality as possible.”
The job description also notes the importance of self-motivation. “You will have deadlines, but there is no office, and there’s nobody looking over your shoulder, so you need to be able to get things done.” However, most of the time an editor assigns stories. “Should you have some ideas on what to write about, we also are open to hearing them.”
The pay range for this job is $60,000-80,000, but no benefits are listed. Photos of current staff suggest that the reporters tend to be young. I wonder whether these gigs are viewed as stepping stones to better-paying public relations jobs at GM or other automakers.
Business model is not a recipe for indepth analysis
GM Authority is owned by Motrolix, which also publishes other titles such as Ford Authority. Each website has a polished look and lots of breaking news. Coverage appears to be heavily weighted toward product launches. The content has a public relations tint, although the websites explicitly state that they are not affiliated with the automakers they cover.
I suppose that there is value in a website that provides a firehose of up-to-date information about a specific automaker. However, GM Authority‘s business model does not appear to be a recipe for in-depth analysis . . . at least by the staff. Comment threads and a “Forum” section appear to offer lively — and often critical — takes on a news topic.
So perhaps this is the future of auto journalism. The paid staff crank out bare-bones articles at breakneck speeds and the analysis is outsourced to the readers. We might call this “potluck journalism,” where the quality of the analysis depends entirely upon who shows up to donate their thoughts.
RE:SOURCES
- GM Authority; 2021. Accessed April 13.
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