American electric carmaker Tesla has dissolved its international public relations team, effectively cutting off all journalists from the company. The move is unprecedented for such a large company and a first for an automaker.
Without a public relations department, journalists will no longer have a formal point of contact to get updated on the company's latest projects and plans. According to sources familiar with the matter, the decision to disband the public relations staff was made "at the highest level at Tesla." Company founder Elon Musk may have been the one that made the decision.
Musk has been very public about his disdain for the news media. The billionaire recently complained about coverage of its September "Battery Day" event. In a post on social media in 2018, Musk said that the public no longer respects the news media because of its "holier-than-thou hypocrisy" and constant "sugarcoating" of lies.
Sources claimed all staff at Tesla's public relations offices in the U.S. have either been transferred to different positions or laid off. Public relations departments in the company's offices in Europe and Asia are reportedly still intact.
The last public relations executive, Keely Sulprizio, reportedly left her post in December. The last remaining senior member of the company's communications team, Alan Cooper, was reportedly reassigned as its director of demand generation. Other staff in charge of PR and communications reportedly left or were transferred.
While traditional media relations may no longer be a part of Tesla's marketing strategy, the company still retains people that perform less-traditional tasks. These include arranging test-drives or handing out products and releases to influencers on YouTube and other online platforms.
Journalists will now have to depend on official posts and tweets from Musk himself for updates. Musk does occasionally post press releases on his official social media accounts. The entrepreneur also breaks news of his companies online with his feed mostly being about his businesses.
