Musk Should Go Ahead and Build ‘Pravda’
Journalists shouldn’t fear a system that would add an extra input to how their work is evaluated.
How to make journalists behave?
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergElon Musk’s idea of creating a credibility rating site for journalists and media outlets seems wacky on the face of it. For one, the proposed name, Pravda, is cringe-making for a Soviet-born journalist like me. But not all Musk’s ideas are far-fetched. It can actually be a useful service.
Musk hates reading about his company (Tesla, not SpaceX) in the media. The ruthless discussion of production snafus and Musk’s iffy promises and forecasts, the focused coverage of deadly accidents, the less-than-perfect reviews of Tesla’s great hope, the Model 3 — none of this is nice, if you’re Musk. (I recommend following Bloomberg Opinion automotive journalist Edward Niedermeyer on Twitter, and energy industry columnist Liam Denning, to keep up with the best and latest in Tesla-skepticism).