With a motive to provide credible and accurate automotive news, 7 independent Indian auto media entities have come together to form the Federation of Auto Scribes of the Electronic Realm or, in short, FASTER.
This new definitive body is formed by publications wholly owned by career motoring journalists, namely CarBlogIndia, Gaadify, Gaadiwaadi, GearFliQ, India Car News (ICN), MotorBeam and Motoroids.
FASTER has been constituted to ensure the content published on its constituent platforms is monitored not just for accuracy, but also for quality and the best editorial practices.
It also strives to act as a 2-way communication medium between the industry and consumers by bringing to the fore all pertinent issues, including those concerning policies and provide a strong platform to everyone to voice their opinion.
Besides unifying the leading online auto media outlets, FASTER will also work towards nurturing a lively community of auto enthusiasts and thought leaders under its banner.
Events and activities which promote and raise awareness about road safety will be held, while the federation will also work towards encouraging innovation and providing various platforms for automobile lovers to come together and celebrate motoring.
In the end, the collective audience of the auto media entities, estimated to be 150 million individuals per month, even when a conservative approach is taken, will benefit by them coming together.
In addition, the “FASTER Auto Awards” has been constituted to recognise and felicitate standout personalities, best products, services and initiatives relating to the industry and the first edition of the event will be held in March this year.
Founding member and Chairman of FASTER, Amit Chhangani, stated that the online auto media community has not represented itself in a formal, organised manner with the right representation thus far despite the wide influence the auto media industry has, which is why FASTER has been constituted.
“Going forward, we envision FASTER reaching out to, and including many more quality auto media outlets under its aegis,” he added.
“FASTER has taken the responsibility to collectively reach out to the ever-growing online audience with quality auto journalism, that brings them dependable information and advice”, said founding member and Secretary of FASTER, Narendra Sharma.
Faisal Khan, the founding member and Treasurer at FASTER, said, “The increasingly prevalent unreliable news sources have made it difficult to segregate dependable, fact-checked reportage from rumors and fake news. FASTER is determined to step in and carry out the daunting, yet crucial task of recognising and guiding the best and brightest online publications in the auto domain that users can depend on.”
