What is their role?
A quick look at myjobsearch highlights the important work in this growing sector. Your average auto writer road-tests new cars entering the market, visits launches and prepares opinion pieces. Typically, their primary role is to ‘advise public consumers and affiliates about auto-related news, reviews and opinion’. Importantly, the intention of their work should be to educate the consumer about the present auto market and help them come to an informed choice on a prospective car purchase.
They usually give out a verdict on a new vehicles quality, efficiency, handling and compare it to rivals. Occasionally, a show such as Top Gear (BBC) would crop up in the auto journalism farm and try mixing this informative brand of journalism with more entertainment.
Changes afoot?
Over the years, the focus has been placed more on being entertaining than being informative. However the formula seems to work. The guardian notes 350 million viewers tune in worldwide to watch their weekly broadcasts. It’s questionable to suggest that EVERY SINGLE ONE is a petrol-head with an extensive knowledge and obsession with cars. Personally, I wasn’t as interested in Jeremy Clarkson’s car stats and lap times – as I was watching them race through one end of Japan to the other. I’m sure there are millions who felt the same.
But that’s only TV, it can’t alter the sector that much can it? But that’s it really, for the rest of the auto journalism sector it’s business as usual.. mostly anyway.
Obstacles and Obligations?
Motoring journalists are entirely objective in the views and content they impart to us, right? Well they should be. Ellie Williams of the Houston Chronicle highlighted their legal duty to serve the public interest as a priority. This is alongside not crossing the boundaries of libel and defamation laws.
Achieving this would require objectivity and the suppression of personal opinion while maintaining the good graces of the auto execs who supply them with press cars (Alex Roy , THE DRIVE).
Therefore, they need find a balance between heavy praise and heavy criticism to avoid seeming biased to consumers. They also need avoid expensive lawsuits and loss of partnership from carmakers. Which could put them out of business I’ll add. Phew.. easier said than done.
Their relationship with employers
In concept, it works like this – auto publications hire journalists with an affinity for or experience in car writing. Those journalists test and review new cars, and deliver their own verdict on them. They seldom reference the company they work for or push to get cars sold, unless they reviewed and genuinely enjoyed a vehicle. To sum up, they are independent of their employers – and the publications give them a platform to express their views.
However as introduced in the O&O segment, it’s not as simple as that. Firstly auto print-writing is a quickly declining industry. Readership has dwindled among the top UK print magazines, such as Auto-express.
In 2011, Auto Express sold 60,840 copies weekly, which made it the top-selling car mag in the country. Today, that number has dropped to just below the 37,000 threshold. it will have lost half its readership over the last decade if this decline continues. Traditional auto-writers such as described above, are fading into obscurity – as more and more publications are slashing their workforces as a result of declining demand.
“Auto Express will have lost half it’s readership over the past decade”
Adding to this, at CJ&T we argue that the advent of the internet and streaming services such as Youtube – have contributed most to the demise of auto print publications.
Car-selling broker platforms such as Auto-Trader and Carwow traditionally never played a part in this industry. But they are the latest to seize on the growing streaming segment of the auto-reviewing sector.
To sum up
Over the course of this blog, we will thoroughly examine what exactly has lead to this change, the effects on the industry as a whole, and what this means for the future of the auto-journalism industry.