Media treatment of Falcon

limited74 · 11-10-2016, 03:31 PM

Has anyone read articles in magazines like Wheels, Motor and even Unique cars about the demise of Falcon. There are so many mistakes with dates, factual errors like Wheels magazine getting the release date of the XK wrong and so on. Plus these so called journalists seeming at times in taking great delight in denigrating Falcon while telling us of the sad demise of this icon.

Wretched · 11-10-2016, 03:45 PM

Publications in all industries make mistakes with content all the time. This is due to strict deadlines, less editorial staff and or just lazy people. It isn't just in the Australian Motoring journalism area.

Do you really believe that these people took pleasure in seeing Falcon disappear? Wheels for example have had a 56 days campaign celebrating the life of Falcon over the past 56 years.
Other publications have done similar. The fact of the matter is, they're journalists, they're not going to have the rose colored glasses on like Falcon fanatics. They will review it as it is presented. Whether you agree with it is entirely up to you, but to paint all journalists the same is a little simplistic. Some have had questionable reviews but others have been spot on. Face it, Falcon was far from perfect, the latter models showing cost cutting and the age of it. This was reflected when compared against the competition.

commodorenutt · 11-10-2016, 06:31 PM

How many "journalists" these days are nothing but self-appointed internet fame-seekers who have a very poor grasp of grammar & language?

To become a "traditional" journalist you had to have formal training, and work your way up through the ranks. Guys like Bill Tuckey, Barry Lake, Phil Scott, Will Hagon, Robbo etc. What those guys wrote, you could bet your house against. And their spelling & grammar was impeccible.

These days it seems all you need is a keyboard and a website willing to publish whatever rubbish comes out, and whammo, instant journalist - just add trolls.
I'm dead certain some of these so called "online motoring journos" putting the knife into the local car industry have never bothered to get their licence, or they're still only old enough for L-plates....

Junkyard-Dog · 11-10-2016, 06:54 PM

John Pilger didn't receive formal training before taking up journalism and he is one of the world's finest. He started a newspaper in highschool - creating a blog on the net is basically the modern-world version of that. It's a stepping stone, they have to start somewhere.

The pages of history are littered with influential self-taught people so I think it's a bit naive to say that you can only do something if you had formal training for that role. For example, would you tell Ernest Hemingway that he shouldn't have been an author?

Henry Ford never received education in engineering. Maybe he shouldn't have built cars?

FalconXV · 11-10-2016, 08:38 PM

I reckon I've been pretty nice to it, but I'm just a no-name player at this stage...

Mercury Bullet · 11-10-2016, 08:48 PM

If people think journalists aren't biased then I have a bridge to sell.

I spent my career working with them, I know exactly what goes on. Since the internet has come along it has only gotten worse. At least in the old days the AJA was around to put a halt to some of the shenanigans.

Journalist gets letter in the mail. In the envelope is return business class tickets (with a likely upgrade to first) accommodation booked at the Hyatt or any 5+ star hotel, restaurant bookings etc.
Journalist flies off to exotic location somewhere on the other side of the world. Journalist gets to drive hot car on the best tracks on the planet.

Said journalist is now beholden (pardon the pun) to that particular company until the next (better) envelope arrives in the mail.

Simples.

Journalist will tell you until he/she's blue in the face that the trip has no influence on his/her reporting. Where's that bridge again...?

In the industry it's known as contra.

wulos · 11-10-2016, 10:57 PM

I won't post my exact thoughts on some of the replies here - would be a shame to have to ban myself.
Way to go with Journo bashing. - Not ALL journo's are evil. I'm sure they'd anyone would love to be treated like royalty, on round the world junkets driving exotics in picturesque locations ALL the time, but that is not an accurate accounting for most.
Journo's ALL write to the needs, and demands of their intended readership. What you perceive to be a negative article, may most likely have been pitched towards a completely different demographic to the one you are in.
Sad facts are that most "pro-ford" journalists really haven't had a lot to fire the faithful up about for at least a couple of years now. Sure there have been a few positives, but most of that is drowned out by other manufacturers simply doing a better 'prolonged' job of things.
Perhaps there was an 'agenda' in play here. If there was, then I look forward to Ford getting back in the game.
Personally, I, like many others, am EXTREMELY interested to see/hear what the next couple of years hold for Ford here in Aus.

Pedro · 11-10-2016, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by limited74

Has anyone read articles in magazines like Wheels, Motor and even Unique cars about the demise of Falcon. There are so many mistakes with dates, factual errors like Wheels magazine getting the release date of the XK wrong and so on. Plus these so called journalists seeming at times in taking great delight in denigrating Falcon while telling us of the sad demise of this icon.

I haven't read the articles you're writing about, mainly because I stopped buying those Holden publicity rags years ago. I was only wondering the other day, what those GM sycophants would write about and what they would adorn there covers with ... no doubt Cruzes or some other cringe worthy Holden badged Asian excuse for a car.

eb2fairmont · 12-10-2016, 06:08 PM

Well Cruze ended production same day as falcon and didn't see the golden Holden publicity rags do such in depth stores on that ckd wonderbox.

Blue Roo · 12-10-2016, 08:39 PM

Well! Lets blame Joshua Dowling for his in depth Journalistic skills of, "Lets keep sinking the boot in to Ford and in to new Ford Products (cars)".

Joshua should be given the Muppet of the Year Award.

robertjp · 12-10-2016, 11:23 PM

Which muppet. I would choose either statler or waldorf?

**GasoLane** · 12-10-2016, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by limited74

Has anyone read articles in magazines like Wheels, Motor and even Unique cars about the demise of Falcon. There are so many mistakes with dates, factual errors like Wheels magazine getting the release date of the XK wrong and so on.

I find that curious as Ford is getting together with Wheels at Avalon this Sat for a final send off.

**Mesa** · 13-10-2016, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GasOLane

I find that curious as Ford is getting together with Wheels at Avalon this Sat for a final send off.

Maybe to get some of the journo's to have a close look inside the panel stamping machine. It'd be a shame if it suddenly went off without warning....

Wretched · 15-10-2016, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GasOLane

I find that curious as Ford is getting together with Wheels at Avalon this Sat for a final send off.

Itsme · 15-10-2016, 01:44 PM

Indeed a good day at Avalon!

Whitey-AMG · 15-10-2016, 05:07 PM

Was a great day at Avalon wouldn't have missed it for anything .
To be there to see the final sedans , ute and Terri go up for auction was a once in a lifetime event for a ford fan. Wheels editorial staff were there and were very respectful. You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear and some of their editorials over the years were quite harsh and with blinkers off for a moment maybe deservedly so.

Anyways, for those that are worried about it too much , there won't be any more new falcon bashing in any magazine any more......

**GasoLane** · 16-10-2016, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wretched

image

image

Yeah I was there as well

roddy1960 · 16-10-2016, 11:09 AM

G'day...Motoring journo's have a pretty big influence on what people buy . Remember the AU ? They jumped all over the car in mags , motoring corner newspaper articles..and the inevitable comparos versus the VT Commodore in the afore mentioned glossy rags...
Turns out they were WRONG...The AU has proven to be one of the best falcon marques on several levels.. What really ***** me about just about every new Falcon is the high seating position claims..This is mandatory to say , EVERY SINGLE TIME...

The ironic part of this is that once you do more than just a few test kays in the Falcon you find it is really a non existent issue.
They ragged the FGll and FGX interior knowing full well the end was nigh and development dollars for gizmo's and stuff was minimal at best..

There are a myriad of reasons why Falcon ended ..market share competition , import tariffs reduced for cheap stuff , fuel prices , Australian dollar , the design platform reaching it's feasible end ,Asian manufacturing minimal build costs , less than ideal advertising campaigns for Falcon virtues (when was the last proper Falcon or Territory ad campaign by the way ) etc etc etc but the journo's laying into the old bird constantly had to have played some significant part too...

Like commented above..At least these people will leave our Falcon alone now and lay into another target species .

Cheers Rod..

Wretched · 16-10-2016, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GasOLane

Yeah I was there as well

Forgot to mention, those pics weren't mine, from Wheels' FB page.

RANGEREST · 16-10-2016, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddy1960

G'day...Motoring journo's have a pretty big influence on what people buy . Remember the AU ? They jumped all over the car in mags , motoring corner newspaper articles..and the inevitable comparos versus the VT Commodore in the afore mentioned glossy rags...
Turns out they were WRONG...The AU has proven to be one of the best falcon marques on several levels.. What really ***** me about just about every new Falcon is the high seating position claims..This is mandatory to say , EVERY SINGLE TIME...

The ironic part of this is that once you do more than just a few test kays in the Falcon you find it is really a non existent issue.
They ragged the FGll and FGX interior knowing full well the end was nigh and development dollars for gizmo's and stuff was minimal at best..
Cheers Rod..

I remember the AU, I had a wagon, really low, big wheels(for the times) looked awesome,
everyone said how nice it was compared to the sedan, and1/2 of them wouldn't upgrade their EF, ELs till the BA arrived.
The look was "polarizing" I think was the term at the time. And I have to agree.
Mind you when the BA arrived I jumped into an XR6 straight away.
Also had an FG G6e and no matter how much better the equivalent Commodore might have been, it was imo a much nicer looking car.

robertjp · 16-10-2016, 09:37 PM

Can concur on the AU, I've had mine for 14yrs, and it has been the best car i've had.

whynot · 17-10-2016, 12:10 AM

Not sure where it all started, but for some time the relationship between Ford Australia and the Australian media has been poor. I doubt that it contributed much to the final decline of the Falcon and the Territory. There are lots of other factors at play (ranging from international economics, changes in buyer tastes, local productivity, improving reliability of overseas built cars, etc., etc.). That said, I think the issue that sticks in my claw is the inconsistency of the criticism.

For example, in the article about why the Falcon missed out on the 2008 Car of the Year, the journalists complained about steering rack rattle, to the point that it seems to be part of the justification of why the Falcon was eliminated. Ok, if that is the criteria. But then why did the journalists find that it was acceptable that the winner of the 2007 Car of the Year, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class had exactly the same complaint (and they wrote about it)? Is steering rack rattle acceptable or is it not?

Older readers of motoring magazines will recall how Ford was slimed time and again about the XD Falcon having leaf springs. To the point that Wheels withheld the 1979 Car of the Year award. Fast forward to 2016, and just look at the top selling vehicles with rear leaf springs; Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, and, gasp, even the Volkswagen Amarok.

I could go on and on … but the old Falcon and Territory is now truly dead, so there is little point.

However, I will say this. Most journalists are soulless creatures. They thrive on creating controversy, and will make every effort to manufacture one on a slow news day. They only care about column inches (or these days web clicks), and never, ever, let the facts get in the way of a good story. They truly don’t care that they have given a little extra push to the closure of Australian manufacturing. Why should they? It gives them fodder to write about the closure, and then down the track more fodder to write about the good old days.

The only good news is that the same forces of globalisation that extinguished Ford’s Australian manufacturing are breathing down the neck of the same journalists and their media outlets. I shall not weep at their demise.