Sloppy reporting and bad journalistic incentives are real problems, but Elon's solution is uncharacteristically dumb. Even outright falsehoods can be difficult to refute, let alone subtler varieties like "lies of omission." Few folks will see them for what they are.

As for Tesla coverage, my observation is that Elon is usually correct on the merits of his frustrations, but he always responds in the most defensive and tonedeaf way possible. I think he forgets that the people he needs to convince aren't the ones attacking him, but the ones watching from the sidelines. I consider myself a huge fan of his, and the way he comports himself often makes me sad.

My biggest pet peeve is that sometimes he'll cite a half-truth rather than a real truth, even when the real truth is on his side. His defense of Autopilot is a good example -- the data showing that Autopilot reduced crashes by 40% is very compelling, but he continues to cite the 1:340M miles stat which at best has a bunch of lurking variables. I understand why he does it -- it's easier to explain and it provides a baseline against the field rather than against Tesla's pre-AP vehicles. But it's dishonest, which is a bad look, especially when you're getting all pissy at the media for its dishonesty.

For better or worse, in a $50ish billion dollar company with the short position that TSLA has, there is a lot of working the refs, as far as the press goes. He's doing it embarassingly clumsily, but he's wise to be aggressive about it.