Access journalism
Chris Tonn shows great promise in automotive marketing
Chris Tonn’s (2020) review of the 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe really stands out from the crowd. Rather than merely walking us through the redesigned SUV’s new features, The Truth About Cars contributing writer also got up […]
Autoweek: Can Crain-owned buff magazine survive in digital era?
A quarter century ago I subscribed to this magazine in response to one of those promos that offered a really low introductory rate. I liked the auto history pieces — this was before the Internet […]
Peter DeLorenzo: Auto journalism is a pay-to-play-for-access game
“I believe that the glaring sameness of the so-called ‘enthusiast’ car mags is still there and it’s still highly annoying. And there’s no denying that the days for the hard-copy print mags are severely numbered, and when […]
Access journalism: Did it help fuel U.S. auto industry’s decline?
Access journalism is what the Columbia Journalism Review (2014) defines as providing “insider information from powerful institutions and people.” This is a different kind of reporting — requiring “different skills, different practices, and different sources” that “produce […]
Retiring editor does the old soft-shoe routine
Richard A. Johnson (2019) recently offered wry reflections about his 35 years at Automotive News. It’s a fitting coda for a longtime reporter and editor of a trade journal that covers such a powerful and […]
Accountability journalism: An endangered species in auto media
This is a form of journalism that holds people and institutions accountable for their actions. The Columbia Journalism Review (2014) noted that the difference between accountability journalism and access reporting is that the latter tells you “what […]