GM Stops Buying Ads in The Times
General Motors Corp. on Thursday pulled its advertising from the Los Angeles Times over disagreements with car reviews and other articles that have appeared in the newspaper.
The world’s largest automaker said the move was “based on strongly voiced objections from our dealers in California about factual errors and misrepresentations in The Times editorial coverage.”
A GM spokesman would not specify the errors or say which articles caused the rift.
Times spokesman David Garcia said that editors at the paper, which is owned by Tribune Co., had “heard some concerns from General Motors and are examining them. We will look into any complaints GM has about inaccuracy or misrepresentation and will make any appropriate corrections.”
A GM executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday’s review of the Pontiac G6 by Times Pulitzer Prize-winning automobile critic Dan Neil was particularly offensive.
Neil wrote that “GM is a morass of a business case” and called for the ouster of GM’s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner. Among other things, Neil took the company to task for not more aggressively developing fuel-efficient cars and focusing instead on SUVs.
Neither The Times nor GM would disclose how much the automaker spent on advertising in the paper.
