Originally Posted by
gerv
Am I reading the same article? The guy actually visited Nantes, wrote from his own observations and also included some links to secondary material. I wouldn't call this a hack.
I do note that Atlantic Cities often writes article about other articles, but they aren't the only ones.
However, this particularly article isn't one of those.
Read my post again. I don't deny the guy visited Nantes. He also included observations, some of which were his own.
The article, on the whole, is very superficial. It doesn't discuss the issues as to how the traffic was moved out, what opposition it met (other than the taxi driver and the harsh parking penalties), what provisions were made for parking outside the serviced area, what benefits and drawbacks, if any, there were for traders in the area, what was done to rehabilitate the shorelines, their usage, and how much all this cost.
Doing that sort of research would have taken time, and a fair bit of quoting from public officials.
The superificiality, in my extensive experience in public and media relations (read also manipulating the media, mostly lazy hacks, to write what a corporation wants them to write) means the trip likely was paid for (I mean, you would take a lot to convince me that the Atlantic Cities had the cash to splash on a jaunting journo)... and the author toed the line.
The green corporations are no purer than any others, in my opinion.