Autos

Elon Musk may actually be making a website to rate journalists for credibility and 'core truth'

Key Points
  • Tesla CEO Elon Musk has registered the domain name "Pravduh" after saying he would create a site to rate reporters.
  • Musk has been very critical of media coverage of Tesla lately.
  • He accused media companies of "holier-than-thou" hypocrisy and said distrust of journalists was key to President Donald Trump's election.
Elon Musk criticizes media in new tweets
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Elon Musk criticizes media in new tweets

Elon Musk has registered the domain name "Pravduh.com" days after fiercely criticizing the media and saying he would build a website to rate the "core truth" and "credibility" of articles and reporters.

It is another move suggesting the CEO of electric car maker Tesla may be moving forward on such a project. Musk had previously said he would name his site "Pravda" after the Soviet Communist newspaper, but that name has already been taken.

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Tesla was not immediately available for comment.

Musk has recently railed against reporters, whom he has criticized for focusing negative coverage on Tesla.

Recent media coverage of Tesla includes reports on crashes involving Tesla cars. In several cases, they have drawn attention from federal agencies such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board over the possible involvement of Tesla's driver assistance technology, called Autopilot.

There have also been reports of repeated production delays, and CNBC has previously reported that Tesla is manufacturing a high volume of flawed parts.

Several media outlets, including CNBC, have also reported on labor issues at the factory.

Musk's relationship with Wall Street has also received attention, particularly given the company's need for capital and a recent earnings call where Musk brushed off queries from analysts as "boring, bonehead questions."

Musk's comments also also come days after reviewer Consumer Reports decided not to recommend the Tesla Model 3 midsize sedan, after it found the vehicle had the longest stopping distance of any contemporary car it has tested.

Some of Tesla's efforts have earned media praise. Consumer Reports gives the Model S the highest rating in the ultra luxury class, and many early Model 3 reviews mostly praised the vehicle.

Musk said Wednesday on Twitter that the public no longer respects "big media companies" because they "lay claim to the truth, but publish only enough to sugarcoat the lie."

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He also said President Donald Trump was elected because no one believes reporters anymore.

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Then he said reporters are under constant pressure to produce work to attract advertising dollars from "fossil fuel companies" and other carmakers.

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Musk said he plans to create a site where the public can "rate the core truth of any article and track the credibility" of every reporter over time.

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Pravda, which means "truth" in Russian, was the name of the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Apparently, Jared Birchall, who has previously been identified as an employee of another Musk project called Neuralink, registered a company called "Pravda Corp" in the state of California last year.

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On Wednesday, Musk had referred to a research note from Baird analyst Ben Kallo published that morning, which said that the media landscape may have become saturated with "increasingly immaterial" negative reports about Tesla, and that the shares could climb if and when Tesla executes on its goals.

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