Tesla loses Top Gear libel case

Sad news for the makers of the magnificent Tesla

 

Top Gear is an entertainment show. They can say any thing or do any thing as a joke just like Jay Leno. Law suite is fruitless.

 

British Courts are just entertainment as well.

 

It would be a less wonderful world if entertainment shows had to be 100% factual. There is a time for engineering accuracy and there is a time for entertainment.

 

Where do you get that idea? If they purport to review and compare cars, and they rig or fabricate results, haven't they libeled? Of course, I don't know how British laws work, but perhaps viewers will eventually learn that Top Gear has no credibility.

 

Clearly the hosts of the program are only entertainers with a funny accent ....for us. I like better "Wheeler Dealers", at least one of them gets greasy under the bonnet

 

Top Gear is over the heads of many American viewers if someone has to explain to them that the show contains a high percentage of entertainment.

There is (was?) a dumbed down version called Top Gear USA that would be better suited for people that believe the BBC Top Gear is passing itself off as a documentary.
Top Gear — History.com TV Episodes, Schedule, & Video

 

Broadcast means "act of media", which closely relates to "journalism".
IMHO, journalism means accuracy.

 

In that case, I they need to take comedy shows, all works of fiction and Fox news off the air.

 

Have you seen the political shows on TV, are they accurate or telling the whole truth?

 

just include the Jon Stewart Daily Show on that list.

 

Top Gear did the same type of thing very recently with a Nissan Leaf - ran it down to 40% charge then took off on a trip and Brodered it.

If you look at global sales of plugin vehicles, they are not impressive at all, even in places with very high gas prices, sales are low from 2010 to 2012: Japan 28k so far, France 12k so far.

I often hear the argument, wait til gas prices skyrocket, then plugin sales will take off. Well, not yet.

 

I think it's a different mentality. They said something Tesla didn't like so Tesla come charging in with the lawyers. That might work in California, but just winds everyones back up over here.

I know a friend who had a company and called it a certain name for years and then a US start up decided to use the same name later and then sue my friend with a team of hotshot lawyers. That got kicked out of the UK courts too.

But I think it's the mentality that's different. In the UK you can insult a good friend as it shows you're such good friends that it's acceptable. Difficult to get your head round if you're not a Brit/Pom. Insult a friend in the US and I guess they'll hit you with a team of lawyers or shoot you.

Anyhow, if you ever watched TopGear you'll find Jezza often insults Peugeot, yet you don't find them crying to the courts.

 

By Telmo's criteria it would be on the list. No entertainment allowed.

 

Public figures and Humor ... when Jerry Fallwel took on Hussler magazine (killing sales to some extent) - its (angered) founder Larry Flint did a "comedy story" that smeared Fallwel. In short, Flint's "humor story" of Fallwell has him doing his mom in an outhouse. Fallwel's libel suit was successful and upheld in all the courts, up and until it reached the fed supremes, where they reversed - holding no one could seriously believe such a story.
With that as a background - and despising Top Gear's Jeromy as I do ... I can't help but think if Elon Musk made up and published a "humor story" about Clarkson ... I'm sure Jeromy would appreciate the value of humor ... as much as Musk values Clarkson's humor.
.

 

As a lawyer (yep, sorry) and a free-speech type, I generally hate the "trade libel" doctrine. So I'm glad this case was thrown out.
In the case of consumer goods, I think this includes testing items not as the manufacturer says they "intended" them to be used--but as idiots (e.g., me) are likely to use them in the real world.
For example, I could see myself making each of the mistakes that the NY Times reporter did in that now-infamous article on a Tesla S trip to Connecticut.
And, while I haven't seen the Top Gear show on Tesla S, I will say this. It's advertised as a sporty car. So it shouldn't be surprising to have someone test it on TV at a track, doing the sporty stuff that uses energy really quickly. Hey, even NASCAR drivers sometimes misoverestimate the amount of fuel they have, and wind up coasting to the finish line, if they get that far.

 

Don't forget the Morris Marina lol

 

Like that!
Intentionally drain a battery before the start of a test drive, then the car ran out of juice, photo-op(Flatbed or people pushing car), while data and behavior of the unsuspecting characters are being monitored by the manufacturer.

 

I love how this thread (as I view it) has an ad from Monsanto that encourages people to visit amercasfarmers.com and has a bucolic humble image of farmland and a father and son. The irony of course is that Monsanto is the essence of everything that destroys family farms and exploits small time operators so thoroughly that only huge sprawling maga-size mono-crop GE corporate farms can survive. It seems the dishonesty in this world has no limits, nor will the courts enforce libel when its present. <sigh>