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Old 27th October 2017, 20:44   #151
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Personally I think its a vicious circle..we're all discussing how we have stopped buying the mags, which in one way makes the publishers more dependent on the advertisers for revenue to keep the publication alive..then theyre obviously going to be prone to prejudice in terms of the content they produce.
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Old 27th October 2017, 21:47   #152
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post4294065

Well, they have only themselves to blame! Even in a good review, they do not bother to inform readers of crucial non-standard components.
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Old 28th October 2017, 10:26   #153
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Well. Biased is tough word to associate with auto journals. If they do a brand compare, they have to say X is better than Y. Users of brand Y or patrons of brand Y will definitely feel that the journal is biased
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Old 24th August 2018, 16:05   #154
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Not biased but a bit careless.

In an article highlighting ten of Maruti's less successful cars, Cartoq has made the cute Zen wear round helmets in place of headlights..
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Old 29th November 2018, 01:30   #155
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

AutoPortal is back and how!

They've not only managed to give an award for almost everyone in the industry - but they've even manage to award companies who are yet to launch their first product in the market yet!

Awards handed over to 13 manufacturers! Pure genius!

Most Awaited Car Maker 2019 - Kia Motors.
Best Design Award 2019 - Lexus
Best Interior Award 2019 - Mercedes C Class
Best Variant Award - TATA Tiago JTP
Best Chauffeur Driver car - BMW 6 GT.
Best Upgrade Award - Datsun Go and Go+
Best Luxury Car Award - Lexus ES300H
Best Luxury SUV Award - Range Rover Velar
Best Compact Crossover - Ford Freestyle.
Best Compact SUV - Volvo XC40
Best SUV - Audi Q5.
Best MPV - Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
Best sedan - Honda Amaze
Best hatchback - Hyundai Santro
Car of the year 2019 - Maruti Suzuki Swift.
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Old 29th November 2018, 09:23   #156
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And now is the time of the year when auto journals and the new bunch of you tube channels will start giving out awards to everyone!

Over the years, I have always found Top gear awards to be the most hilarious! I stopped reading the magazine after I found the style of writing to be repetitive and also because I found the awards very pretentious. They would give their Car Of The Year to some irrelevant import, and claim it's the best car ever.

The award ceremonies have become like Bollywood awards now. Too many award ceremonies, and most of the folks would want to please the biggies such as Suzuki, Honda and Hyundai.

Last edited by navin : 29th November 2018 at 15:44. Reason: typos and grammar
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Old 29th November 2018, 09:30   #157
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Quote:
Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR View Post
AutoPortal is back and how!
I unsubscribed yesterday from their channel after the deluge in my youtube feed.

Not like I used to see their videos anyways. Usually only if something caught my eye.
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Old 29th November 2018, 10:38   #158
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

With the amount of good content available on the Web, I'm surprised these auto mags are still solvent. And serves them right if they go under, I've stopped reading so many articles that are supposed to be 'reviews' because it becomes VERY obvious that the point of the article is simply to praise the vehicle being reviewed, however crappy that vehicle is actually.

I'm all for paying more for quality content, if a mag takes the approach of really evaluating products and helping consumers make informed decisions, I would gladly pay per article. But I don't see the point of paying for a puff or PR piece written on behalf of an auto manufacturer.

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Originally Posted by aravind.anand View Post
But the website owner asked me to change the cons mentioned in them, as the car is from the market leader, and hence such negative reviews can adversely affect ad revenues, event invitations and overall support from the manufacturer!
Heard the same thing from a friend whose brother used to write for one of the biggest auto mags in the country. They avoid saying anything negative about new vehicles. What's the point of a review then?!

Last edited by am1m : 29th November 2018 at 10:42.
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Old 29th November 2018, 11:12   #159
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

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Originally Posted by Vid6639 View Post
I unsubscribed yesterday from their channel after the deluge in my Youtube feed.
True. Yesterday I had trouble scrolling through my feed which was bombarded with Autoportal's 'award ceremony'. Their reviews are also pretty boring. The guy only talks about his height (which is 5'10 for reference ), how many bottle holders are there in the cabin, and whether the boot is big enough to carry his mother-in-law's luggage. Other insignificant bits like the engine, ride and handling etc. are dealt with in under 2 minutes, and most of it is again literally the same for all cars .

The guys at Motoroids are more presentable in their reviews, and try to go in depth while covering various aspects of the car.
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Old 29th November 2018, 11:33   #160
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

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. Their reviews are also pretty boring. The guy only talks about his height (which is 5'10 for reference ), how many bottle holders are there in the cabin, and whether the boot is big enough to carry his mother-in-law's luggage. .
All about perspective and relevance. That would be considered the perfect review by my wife. Who is even slightly smaller, takes note of things such as bottle holders and definitely wants to know how much luggage she can stick in the boot when she has to pick up her mum/sister/brother/uncle/aunt from the airport when they come to visit us for a fortnight.

Car performance is described by her as nippy or not so nippy.

Not better of worse, just a different set of perspective and relevance on what you are looking for in a new car.

In our family my wife is in charge of buying new cars, so this kind of review would do well.

When it comes to magazines I buy Topgear, UK version every month and still enjoy it. Next I tend to buy Octane and various UK classic car magazines. They have reviews, lot of it is more or less factual and about preferences. But at the end they need to write about stuff that people like to read and attracts advertisers.

Interestingly enough, many people use classic car magazines as reference for finding companies that specialize in a certain marque, or offer specialized services, be it full restoration or supplying parts. Or offering services, such as for instance overhauling carburetors, re-chroming of parts. So the adds tend to be a very integral part of what the magazine has on offer.

Jeroen

Last edited by Jeroen : 29th November 2018 at 11:41.
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Old 29th November 2018, 14:44   #161
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

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Originally Posted by nikipedia87 View Post
Their reviews are also pretty boring. The guy only talks about his height (which is 5'10 for reference ), how many bottle holders are there in the cabin, and whether the boot is big enough to carry his mother-in-law's luggage.
If I remember correctly, the Autoportal guy started when Rebecca Jackson and Mat Watson was at CarBuyer UK, and he literally tried to lift the presentation style and humor of Ms. Jackson, and turned out to be worse than a parody. The height reference comes from there and he Indianized it a bit by bringing in mother-in-law’s luggage and so on, but still a very tedious watch.
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Old 29th November 2018, 16:25   #162
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

Quote:
Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR View Post
AutoPortal is back and how!

Awards handed over to 13 manufacturers! Pure genius!

Most Awaited Car Maker 2019 - Kia Motors.
Best Interior Award 2019 - Mercedes C Class
Best Variant Award - TATA Tiago JTP
Best Chauffeur Driver car - BMW 6 GT.
Best Upgrade Award - Datsun Go and Go+
Is this some kind of parody or for real?

Upgrade, variant, most awaited, chauffeur driven? How could these be taken seriously? I hope they were trolling.
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Old 2nd December 2018, 09:20   #163
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

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Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR View Post
They've not only managed to give an award for almost everyone in the industry - but they've even manage to award companies who are yet to launch their first product in the market yet!


Next up is a call from a furious MG Motors. "What about our award?". Answer = "Don't worry, you will be getting newbie of the year award in 2019" .

Quote:
Originally Posted by am1m View Post
With the amount of good content available on the Web, I'm surprised these auto mags are still solvent.
Each & every car magazine has seen their circulation fall. Some have gone down under (e.g. BSMotoring), others are in the process of and some are loss making + surviving only because of cash-rich parent groups.
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Old 2nd December 2018, 12:49   #164
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

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Each & every car magazine has seen their circulation fall. Some have gone down under (e.g. BSMotoring), others are in the process of and some are loss making + surviving only because of cash-rich parent groups.
True, same for almost any paper publication these days.

I am very old school when it comes to magazines and papers. I still prefer a paper copy over any digital format any day!

I love my iPad, but it is just not the same as flipping through paper.

Jeroen
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Old 3rd December 2018, 08:14   #165
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Re: Auto Magazines - Commercially biased Journalism

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True, same for almost any paper publication these days.
Except newspapers . In India, the morning newspaper read is ingrained into our culture. The sheer circulation numbers are mind-boggling (source). Unlike in the West, the newspaper business is (still) very profitable in India.
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