Media Bias

It seems that the term "media bias" gets thrown around a lot these days. Some folks say that NPR and most network television news programs are left-wing propaganda tools. Others say Fox News and most AM talk radio shows are propaganda devices for the right-wing.Fewer people are interested in hearing about cars,so some may not notice it, but bias seems rampant in the automotive media as well.
This is nothing new. For years, I've heard people in the American auto industry, as well as fans of American cars, complain that the major magazines (including Consumer Reports, which is not a car magazine but regularly features cars) have a bias against American cars and always find ways to give them the lowest ratings.I'm not fully convinced of this.Corvettes, Mustangs, and increasingly, new Cadillacs get very positive attention from auto writers.To me, it seems like magazines such as Motor Trend, Road and Track and Car and Driver have a pro-German bias more than anything.Every time I pick up one of these magazines, there is some kind of article on BMWs or Mercedes-Benzes. And BMW always wins awards and comparison tests.
Don't get me wrong, both are great cars. The 80's-era Mercedes-Benzes may be the best cars ever built. I am convinced that when the world explodes, 2 or 3 boxy diesel-powered Benzes will be floating around in space. Keith Richards will be behind the wheel. And BMW has always made exciting, cutting-edge cars. But   both automakers just get way too much coverage.It seems like everytime a new performance-oriented car hits the market, the magazines run a caption on the cover saying something like "BMW-killer?" or "Can It Beat The M3?". Everytime they have a multi-car "shoot-out", testing several similar cars against each other, we already expect the BMW to win. Thats just how the media is.
Whenever Mercedes comes out with a new car or even makes a slight update to an existing model, the magazines will write about it with a glowing review.Then, a long-term update.
Mercedes-Benz has become the car of celebrities these days.Movie and tv stars, pop starlets,heavy metal musicians, socialites, you name it. They all seem to drive Mercedes-Benzes.Very few are actually interested in cars. They are becoming mainstream vehicles for the non-enthusiasts, and that increased number of them on the road, especially among non-car folks, turns away the core audiences of these magazines.Even high-performance MBs these days are more likely to be driven by people uninterested in cars.Today's car nut is likely to avoid Benzes because they are the status symbol of the uninitiated.This has not stopped enthusiast magazines from devoting a few pages of every issue to both Mercedes and BMW products.I don't mind seeing Ferrari or Lamborghini articles. These belong in there,since those are enthusiast-oriented marques. But the cars getting the most write-ups are those driven by ER doctors to and from the hospital and country club.
The car magazines may lose relevance soon if they don't add more variety and less predictability and bias.And show us more "Car-Guy" cars instead of "soap-opera star" cars.