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Old 10th October 2016, 05:37   #106
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One look at the yearly car awards and you will know how biased the auto magazines or shows are. They would give out meaningless awards to companies to keep them happy. Surprisingly even the NDTV car and bike show is no exception. I have stopped following or even reading about such award shows for a while now.

Nothing like Team BHP. For the people, by the people!
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Old 11th October 2016, 19:11   #107
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Magazine subscriptions are not paying the bills people. Magazine editors with significantly lower standards of ethics than Hormuzd have to make the choice of whether to shut down shop or accept corporate sponsorship for favorable reviews, placements and advertising in that order.

Sadly, ACI is the best of the worst.
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Old 5th May 2017, 23:28   #108
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Looks like Overdrive magazine is getting a fat paycheck from Honda India. Too many advertorials over the past one week, that just couldn't be missed. Most of them doesn't even seem to be footage shot by their team!











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Old 6th May 2017, 01:43   #109
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

ALL Indian review magazines and 90% of international ones, do not reflect the truth one bit, according to me how a car looks, drives or feels is a personal opinion in some part, and even if a little bit of that personal opinion creeps into the review then the whole review is tainted. Here is how I see the journalist bias and its evident :

Renuka Kirpalani : I run 200 miles if she is reviewing a car.. BIG Maruti/VW/TATA fan.

Hormazd Sorabjee : Big VW/Honda/TATA fan.

Siddharth Patankar : Quite balanced and neutral, but is kind of focused on the mass market brands which makes him seem much more truthful.. yet a slight tilt nonetheless.

Kartikeya Singhee : Hyundai fan, obvious as daylight.

Sirish Chandran : VWAG fanboy extreme, laughable reviews.

Bertrand DSouza : Quite neutral with a tilt to Hyundai, guilty as well.

As far as international reviewers go (YouTube):

CarWow : VW fanboy Mat Watson (wasn't so in his earlier job Carbuyer)

Carbuyer : VW+Toyota+Ford bias

The way I see it, they may be right 99% of the time, but that 1% inaccurate information is enough to deem them unreliable reviews. I've stopped watching anything car related as it is.

Last edited by dark.knight : 6th May 2017 at 02:11.
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Old 6th May 2017, 16:46   #110
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Quote:
Originally Posted by dark.knight View Post
Siddharth Patankar : Quite balanced and neutral, but is kind of focused on the mass market brands which makes him seem much more truthful.. yet a slight tilt nonetheless.
Agree I wish he was given a better platform for his reviews instead of NDTV.

Another brilliant reviewer in the indian automotive scene is Shumi. His reviews on bikes are unparalleled I feel.

Last edited by GTO : 8th May 2017 at 09:56. Reason: Removing first part. No personal attacks or comments please
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Old 7th May 2017, 07:39   #111
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

What is wrong with BSM? When ever I got a the magazine, I spot the editor to be changed.

And, this April issue had nothing to read, really, photos too aren't of Pablo's standard [he is gone too]
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Old 7th May 2017, 11:00   #112
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

In this era of post-truth journalism, the least we can do is make our source of information (& their related parties) go through a propriety audit. Unfortunately, practically nobody will let this happen. So, lets talk about the possible solution. (This prudence holds true even for regular NEWS.)

IMO, any proper research based review can be pro-consumer & independent from bias if we directly employ the reviewers (I imagine, by forming groups). The parameters can be set based on the priorities of the group. Some would give more importance to brand, others to design, or to performance, longevity, or to safety, or to post sale service etc.

Forming an influenced, engaged, interested & serious group is often under-rated, but of great importance, so it must be found out that who is in the best & compatible position to create such a group. Make them do it & rewardingly compensate them.

Said groups will need to incur cost of professionally & independently testing the product & employing experts to rate the same. Groups can collaborate & reduce costs. Apart from all this, said groups will need to pragmatically ensure the experts & professionals are not externally influenced.

Edit : I understand its hard to make this happen, but please consider that this prudence holds true even for regular NEWS. It can be any media that we read/watch everyday to form our worldview.

Last edited by GrammarNazi : 7th May 2017 at 11:17.
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Old 7th May 2017, 11:18   #113
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Quote:
Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR View Post
Looks like Overdrive magazine is getting a fat paycheck from Honda India. Too many advertorials over the past one week, that just couldn't be missed. Most of them doesn't even seem to be footage shot by their team!
Happens with all the manufacturers and all auto magazines and auto portals. So, don't see anything unique to Honda or to Overdrive. Even team bhp take part regularly in Honda discover drives,no?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...khajuraho.html

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...nthapuram.html (In a Honda Brio : Kochi - Munnar - Thiruvananthapuram)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...nda-amaze.html (Amazing Discovery Drive: Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai in a Honda Amaze)

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ala-tanot.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...monastery.html

Also manufacturers punish the portals/magazines if you give a bad review, but honest one, about their products. Remember Maruti did not give their 2nd generation Swift for review to TeamBHP and the mods have to borrow the car to do a review. This is even more worse.

Last edited by searacer932 : 7th May 2017 at 11:21.
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Old 7th May 2017, 12:56   #114
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Anyone can be accused of bias. A pragmatic solution is - *ponder what Germany did to get the Swiss Bank account details*.

I'm not saying one must go out to particularly do that, I'm just saying that all relevant info is probably well researched by car makers, and if one happens to come across the internal info, & if its apparent that theres anything detrimental to public welfare, then do consider making that info public.

But before that, research well, maybe even consult some senior members here! Team-BHP has no "leanings" & I guess most of us would enjoy a good laugh at a car maker caught pants down!

Last edited by WorkingGuru : 7th May 2017 at 12:58.
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Old 7th May 2017, 13:32   #115
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

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Originally Posted by WorkingGuru View Post
Team-BHP has no "leanings"!
I really don't think that's true.

But it's actually not a bad thing anyway to have a leaning towards a good brand or product.
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Old 7th May 2017, 13:35   #116
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Whats being discussed here is open truth. Editors of the respective magazines depend on income from sales, advertising, etc resulting directly or indirectly from the magazine.
Mods of team-bhp AFAIK have their own different businesses (please correct me if I am wrong here) and have started this forum out of interest, and to fill a niche in the automotive enthusiast space. I honestly do not see the point of this sanctimonious talk.
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Old 7th May 2017, 13:46   #117
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Quote:
Originally Posted by searacer932 View Post
Happens with all the manufacturers and all auto magazines and auto portals. So, don't see anything unique to Honda or to Overdrive. Even team bhp take part regularly in Honda discover drives,no?
.
I guess the biggest difference is that magazine travel advertorials (part of advertising contract) are all praise for the car while team-bhp drive (expenses covered by Honda) is a proper review. Both negatives and positives of the car are highlighted in Team-BHP threads.

Last edited by SmartCat : 7th May 2017 at 13:50.
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Old 7th May 2017, 13:54   #118
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruchitya View Post
Whats being discussed here is open truth. Editors of the respective magazines depend on income from sales, advertising, etc resulting directly or indirectly from the magazine.
Mods of team-bhp AFAIK have their own different businesses (please correct me if I am wrong here) and have started this forum out of interest, and to fill a niche in the automotive enthusiast space. I honestly do not see the point of this sanctimonious talk.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
I guess the biggest difference is that magazine travel advertorials (part of advertising contract) are all praise for the car while team-bhp drive (expenses covered by Honda) is a proper review. Both negatives and positives of the car are highlighted in Team-BHP threads.
Very true : something that can also be found here :

http://www.team-bhp.com/aboutus/overview

No income from automobile manufacturers at all on Team BHP and hence no biased opinions toward any brand. In fact, DBhpians also help the mods if we come across any "car ads" on the advertising bar which are promptly removed.

Last edited by v12 : 7th May 2017 at 13:55.
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Old 7th May 2017, 14:16   #119
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Having seen all the magazines and autoportals for a long time, i have realized that the best way to know about a product is

1] To test drive it yourself. Better Multiple times.

2] Inquire your family and friends regarding performance, mileage, space, ride & handing reliability and last but not the least ownership costs and after sales response of the product in question.

3] Read ownership reviews of users with a good track record on forums like Team BHP and others.

Every product has it's strengths and weaknesses. The reviews of magazines and autoportals highlight strengths or weaknesses based upon their allegiance to the said manufacturer.

The current Swift, which we own in the family and the upper part of the shin will hit the dashboard if you pull the seat a little forward. i have to pull back the seat backwards to avoid it. Only team bhp mentioned it in their review.

The TUV300 AMT users are facing huge issues especially with the AMT acting erratically and one person nearly ended up in an accident because the AMT decided to shift down instead of shifting up under hard acceleration. For a new user this could prove to really dangerous. I read about this in this forum or somewhere else i don't remember.

I was surprised to see my friend's much maligned KUV100 could tackle deep ruts with it's long travel suspension without running out of travel or bottoming out once but all we hear is about it's body roll. For a person driving sedately and traverses bad roads it does stand out.

The Innova [ not Crysta] has great ride quality but on full load it does scrape it's belly on big speed breakers especially if you do not slow down enough.

The poor Tempo Trax with leaf springs has better ride quality than Innova. Drive one you will know.

On our roads especially for people who drive on highways and traverse country roads the criteria used to judge ride and handling simply do not make any sense whatsoever. The suspension should be abuse friendly to deal with unmarked speed breakers, potholes arriving out of nowhere and sometimes on single lane carriage ways you have to put left side wheels down on the mud when a heavy vehicle approaching from front refuses to give an inch.

Everyone talks about flat ride but nobody talks about the travel of suspension, the strength of suspension arms etc. I think the reviews are far too City centric and good roads.

Reviews have been reduced to driving around on demarcated roads with a prepared script. Anyone who is buying a car should go and try it out comprehensively, multiple test drives, after reading a review and he/she would be surprised as to how the so called facts presented are far from reality.

Last edited by needforspeed88 : 7th May 2017 at 14:22.
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Old 7th May 2017, 15:12   #120
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

I have been an automobile enthusiast since childhood. In those days, auto magazines were the only source of information available. Back then, I was an avid reader of magazines such as Auto India, Over Drive, etc.

Albeit the "Expert" reviewers engaged by the magazines claimed as being unbiased the context under which the comparison were made and the parameters considered while arriving at the conclusion remained questionable. For one instance I clearly remember an article in one of those magazines published during 1998 (presumably October 98 edition) where the magazine compares the Ford escort 1.6 zetec (just launched) to the Opel Astra 1.6 NZR and conclude the former as winner. The parameters considered for the comparison were tailor selected which favored the escort such as top speed, trunk size etc while parameters such as Power delivery, high speed poise, handling and of course the stylish looks which favored the Astra were conveniently overlooked. However the magazine made a point to mention the strengths and weaknesses of each somewhere within the text. Based on my priorities my conclusion with regard to the winner was exactly the opposite.

In my opinion the magazines provide sufficient information on important aspects relating to the cars however the conclusions can at best be called as personal opinion of the "Expert" and the readers are required to exercise their own discretion and arrive at the conclusion.😊
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