Tesla: Workplace safety, unions and the color yellow

Someone’s been too busy playing with flamethrowers.

Tesla's troubles with media reports on working conditions and union organizing took a hard right turn on Monday. In response to Reveal's report on Tesla's workplace safety, the auto manufacturer accused the Pulitzer-finalist of being "an extremist organization working directly with union supporters to create a calculated disinformation campaign against Tesla."

When reached for response to Tesla's accusation, editor in chief of Reveal (from The Center for Investigative Reporting) Amy Pyle told Engadget via email, "It hardly seems that a documents-and-shoe-leather investigation of workplace safety could accurately be portrayed as fanatical."

Tesla's accusation came via a blog post the same day Reveal published its investigation. Tesla says its factory is safer now, but it left injuries off the books. Despite being called an "extremist organization," the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization said it stands by its work in the report as "accurate and fair." Pyle added, "In terms of how I feel, I know we're on solid ground, so it pretty much rolls off our back."

Among other issues, Reveal's piece said dangerous areas aren't properly marked around Tesla's plants because "Elon [Musk] hates the color yellow." Tesla's reactionary blog post took particular umbrage to this allegation, writing, "This is truly ridiculous. Anyone who's been in the factory can see that the color yellow is everywhere."

Tesla's blog post linked to five different close-up photos of yellow objects (and one portable sign) that appear to be on Tesla property.*

It's an odd detail in a story that just gets weirder — and more high-stakes — by the day.

Jalopnik observed the exchange and wrote "Tesla's War With The Media Is Just Unhinged At This Point." Slate said Tesla's tone "now borders on hysterical." While Fast Company said the company's extreme reaction makes it look like it's hiding something.

All three outlets noted that Tesla's reaction — shouting "fake news" and alleging a conspiracy — seems straight from the Donald Trump playbook. Requests to Tesla for comment were not answered before publication.

Reveal's editor in chief did say that, in this context, Tesla's reaction gives her pause. "This is classic blaming the messenger for sure." She added:

But we are seeing this kind of rhetoric more and more across the news landscape, where those who disagree with a story label it "fake news," lumping it in with the actual epidemic of faked news out there. That seems like a calculated and somewhat cynical move, especially on the part of major corporations. If you label us as extreme, then we – and the problems we've uncovered – are easy to dismiss.

Tesla's war on journalism is at odds with the media's love affair with the company's boyish billionaire founder and CEO Elon Musk. On one hand, he's entertaining the world by launching his sports car into space, making flamethrowers for the masses, perfecting groundwork for space exploration, and digging tunnels to ease his commute. On the other, he's gone toe-to-toe with reporters over his belief that the United Auto Workers are engaged in a deep conspiracy to make his company look bad in order to unionize his employees — dismissing claims about workplace safety issues and injury reporting in the process.