electricron wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:00 pm
Tadman wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:45 am
Absolutely no primary sources were cited here. Nobody bothered to even call Amtrak or Alstom and ask them for comment. Another clickbait article that could be written from a coffee shop.
What would've been interesting is attempting to contact Amtrak's CMO and see what additional costs they foresee trying to maintain the Acela 1 fleet, and if there are any significant hurdles similar to a D-check in the airliner world that would cause a big problem. If they couldn't get ahold of someone like the CMO, perhaps a transportation consultant or professor looking to make a name for themselves would be a good soundbite.
There are not as many local news organizations and on the street beat reporters as there used to be as the news media is being consolidated to just a few national corporations. That is why there are so few primary sources removed from the national politics reported from D.C.
That may explain some of it, but it doesn't excuse the habit and it doesn't change the fact that what they're reporting
is not news. It's scuttlebut. What does it take to make a call to Amtrak? There is a PR guy, and there are other sources that will talk. As we've seen lately, people always have axes to grind and are always willing to leak.
Somehow, in three cases this week - a supposedly faulty billion dollar procurement, an allegedly discriminatory and racially-biased seat-moving, and an allegedly discriminatory pricing practice against mobility challenged adults, we have no leakers??? No off-record sources that are willing to point reporters in the right direction to find a smoking gun??? Nothing other than a tweet, which I can find???
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The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.