It gets pretty bad at times. Here's one of the most mindlessly uncritical pieces I've seen, which seems to be a press release from Volkswagen: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/03/volkswagen-unveils-sedr... Look at the image captions gushing about the "roomy interior" of a vehicle that doesn't even exist! I actually wrote in to say how disappointed I was in this ad/press release material, and the response was "That was not a VW ad and we were not paid by VW for that or any other story". I find it interesting that they only denied the ad part, not the press release part...

As I mention in another comment, https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/01/exclusive-volvo-tells-u... is in a similar vein.

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dylan604 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

"I'm a professional shopper, and here's what I say you should buy" because someone sent me a free version of it or just straight copy to use in my listicle.

It is sad that this is what journalism has come to. It is even sadder that it works.

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bsimpson 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Wirecutter was a good premise, but now it and everyone copying it are untrustworthy.

It feels like the human version of AI hallucination: saying what they think is convincing without regard for if it's sincere. And because it mimics trusted speech, it can slip right by your defense mechanisms.

	▲	dylan604 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Any good idea will be copied by those with lesser motives.

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lokar 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm willing to believe it was not an ad.

They are just lazy / understaffed. It's hard to make $ in journalism. A longstanding and popular way to cut corners is to let the industry you cover do most of the work for you. You just re-package press releases. You have plausible content for a fraction of the effort / cost.

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dylan604 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Unfortunately, government is like that were most bills are written by lobbyists and barely if at all modified by the actual congress critter sponsoring it.

	▲	lokar 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I think that's much more common in state government (in the US). Most bill in the US Congress are not actually meant to pass, they are just (often poorly written) PR stunts.

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ktm5j 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That car looks so unhappy :|