Joe Skipper/Reuters
Tesla founder Elon Musk on Wednesday announced plans to launch a website for users to “rate the core truth” of articles that appear in the press, as he railed against the media for “sugarcoating” lies. “The holier-than-thou hypocrisy of big media companies who lay claim to the truth, but publish only enough to sugarcoat the lie, is why the public no longer respects them,” he wrote on Twitter. He said his new “media credibility rating site” would fight back against media misinformation by tracking the credibility ratings of individual journalists, editors, and publications. In response to comparisons to President Trump, an unrelenting critic of the media, Musk said, “Anytime anyone criticizes the media, the media shrieks ‘You’re just like Trump!’ Why do you think he got elected in the first place? Because no ones believes you any more.” Musk’s idea seems to have been at least partly motivated by recent negative media coverage of Tesla, which has been under scrutiny recently for its falling stock and vehicle production delays.