The Joke’s On Us - All of Us
By Tom Wilkinson
Director, News Relations
Those of us who have been in the business for a while look forward to the annual April Fools issue of Car and Driver. The boys and girls from Ann Arbor, Detroit’s left-leaning little sister to the West, are famous for their over-the-top April Fools stories. One of my favorites from years past was a much-heralded test of the “Latest Mercedes GT,” which proved to be a full track test, with photos, of a Mercedes-powered garbage truck.
So when our phones started ringing off the hook with reports that the President Obama was personally ordering GM and Chrysler out of racing, and Car and Driver was cited as the exclusive source for the
story, and the date was April 1 … well, we knew they were at it again.
We are living in crazy times. Rumors and speculation circulate instantly around the world, and everyone is scrambling to scoop everyone else. But as my Editing 101 instructor used to say, “It if seems too strange to be true, check it out before you run it.”
For those in the media - traditional and new - if you hear something strange, give us a shout and check it out before you pass it on.
For the rest of you, watch out for those Merry Pranksters from Ann Arbor.
http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives...all_of_us.html