The Unpopular Mr. Okulski

"Drew" (midnightdori)
12/12/2014 at 20:14 • Filed to: None

I imagine right now Travis Okulski's social accounts and probably text inbox is filling up with some rather unsavory responses to his little media leak. I suppose that's to be expected when you're pulling back the veil on the profession and calling people out in a public place. As someone who qualifies as a layman who reads these reviews and occasionally makes a purchase decision based on them, I'd like to give some perspective.

Full disclosure: I'm probably not the typical layman. Cars are a significant part of my life outside of work. My first word was "car" (call my mom, she can verify). I learned how to read English from Autoweek, Car & Driver, and Road & Track. I learned the colors from the Sunday morning classified sections. I've read, watched, and listened to just about every form from just about every outlet I could get my hands on.

Anyway - if you're not familiar, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! a few hours ago, followed by this:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

There was a lot of traffic on twitter, with a lot of journalists criticizing the whole thread and calling out their own for showing their colors. Which, I suppose, is to be expected. I'm sure he's probably catching 7 kinds of hell from friends and colleagues who rely on being friendly to this PR machine to make their living. But this brings us to an important point: you should be exceptionally skeptical of the majority of what you read in terms of reviews of cars.

Those journalists that are making Mr. Okulski the unpopular one now have probably been the recipients of some rather exceptional hospitality on a recurring basis from some of the largest companies on the planet. Which, if you're a company, makes sense. You'd go to great lengths to curry favor with journalists, and, if you're the one giving them the edge on the new Mustang/911/3-series/Sorrento/Niva/Dale which said journalist needs to put on the cover/front page to sell magazines or ad space, you have the edge in the game.

That being said: when you have journalists being flown out to all-expenses-paid trips to the Côte d'Azur for a week to drive around whatever the host wants them to, do not expect someone who isn't at the top of their respective tax bracket to maintain an air of independence about their review. They will not tell you that the steering is numb, that the entertainment system is byzantine, and that the press car broke down twice on their trip requiring serious maintenance.

As laymen - casual readers of car reviews and ardent internet denizens - you can generally tell when someone is plagiarizing a press kit that lists out all the statistics down to the newton-picometers of additional rigidity of the frame of the latest rental fleet fodder over the prior generation and uses the word "dynamic" like it curries any sort of information. These reviews are worthless. Go to the manufacturer's site and they'll give you all that information and (sometimes) better photos of all the colors and options. Some are even decent writers that fall prey to the giving tree - it's hard to make a living as a reviewer when you don't have anything to review.

Most of these folks went to J-school and some even have degrees from places like Missouri or Northwestern where journalism matters - I'm sure most of these folks know they're being catered to and encouraged to write what manufacturers want to hear. That's probably what's making Mr. Okulski so popular - he's lifted the veil for a brief moment as to some of the freeloading and blatant pandering that takes place. Credibility no longer applies to these folks - and people who are reliant on them to make the second largest purchase decision of their lives are going off of a reworded brochure that's been typed up hungover on a flight back from South Africa or Napa Valley.

So, while Mr. Okulski is no longer popular amongst his peers - you, the reader, should encourage this sort of behavior. He's added to the short list of journalists who car companies don't like - the ones who are actually honest. Remember when !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ? How Derek Kreindler and Jack Baruth and the rest of the TTAC staff !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! about disclosure? How !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ? This his how you know you build credibility with your audience as someone with Walter Cronkite levels of trust.

Car companies should not like you. They shouldn't have to put you up in cushy hotels and pay your bar tab to get a good review.

They should build good cars.

Keep fighting the good fight, even if it means you're not getting invited to the Amalfi coast reveal of the latest Mirage.

DISCUSSION (20)

PS9 > Drew
12/12/2014 at 20:23

You're popular with us. We still love you, Travis.

yamahog > Drew
12/12/2014 at 20:27

#Jalopgate: "It actually IS about ethics in journalism!"

PS9 > yamahog
12/12/2014 at 20:29

But how can it be without a failed relationship to be vicariously outraged about?

Driving Sports TV > Drew
12/12/2014 at 20:30

I thinking calling it a "media leak" isn't quite accurate. Also, as much as I like Travis and Matt, comparing Jalopnik to Cronkite is an absurd comparison.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > PS9
12/12/2014 at 20:32

Maybe Orlove will cheat on the Baja Bug with a newer more limber 2014 beetle.

For Sweden > yamahog
12/12/2014 at 20:32

I made that joke on Travis' post and he promptly dismissed it :/ the cover-up is just beginning.

For Sweden > PS9
12/12/2014 at 20:33

Are you implying Travis hasn't tried to sex with a automaker rep?

yamahog > For Sweden
12/12/2014 at 20:35

Some House of Cards shit going down.

We can call it...

House of Cars.

yamahog > For Sweden
12/12/2014 at 20:38

Actually... I have it on good word from a friend (former AutoWeek writer) that Travis likes to brag about swag, too. Same shit as any other old white boys club.

Drew > Driving Sports TV
12/12/2014 at 20:52

Agreed, on both counts. Perhaps a bit heavy on the hyperbole.

But still - it's better than Autoblog asking for swag.

For Sweden > yamahog
12/12/2014 at 20:52

Is swag a White word now?

theonewhoisbasedasfuck > Drew
12/12/2014 at 20:53

amen, brother

Dsscats > PS9
12/12/2014 at 21:00

Speak for yourself!

yamahog > For Sweden
12/12/2014 at 21:03

Crap, even words have race now?

For Sweden > yamahog
12/12/2014 at 21:04

Don't English words? Many languages give words gender; I thought you Anglos gave your words some kind of identity.

yamahog > For Sweden
12/12/2014 at 21:14

Nope. We have British vs US vs Aus/NZ English, and regional US dialects, but racially nothing as institutionalized as feminine/masculine words in Spanish or other languages.

Travis Okulski > For Sweden
12/13/2014 at 12:25

I did? I thought I promoted it!

Travis Okulski > yamahog
12/13/2014 at 12:30

I said it in the post, we have all accepted small gifts (at Jalop, at Autoweek, at Motor Trend, etc). Or swag. Whatever. I have no issue with these gifts at all.

But we (and by "we" I mean the majority of the industry) are not asking for better stuff than we already receive. There's a difference between receiving a small trinket and asking to be provided with a better souvenir to make it memorable. That crosses a line.

Travis Okulski > Driving Sports TV
12/13/2014 at 12:43

Totally agreed.

yamahog > Travis Okulski
12/13/2014 at 14:18

I saw that in your article, and I appreciate your dedication to holding yourself to higher ethical standards, but I'm personally not incensed by what you see as "crossing the line" since any sort of freebie is already way over the line in my side of the industry. Being an engineer for one of the Big 3, we have it beaten into our heads that accepting any gifts at all is unacceptable, I have to fill out paperwork to declare any potential conflicts of interest, pay taxes for any perceived benefit (including driving a test vehicle or company car during non-business hours), can't accept auto show tickets even if we're going for business purposes, etc, and meanwhile our employers themselves schmooze the press all they want. Just business as usual.

ETA: I do realize the difference in magnitude between bribing the people who make engineering decisions involving large contracts and bribing the press, whose opinions touch millions of customers, before someone throws that out there.