Is Mainstream Media Trying to Kill the US Auto Industry?
Posted on January 13, 2009 - Filed Under Squawks |
They Used To Work Here
Does the Mainstream Media (hereafter abbreviated as MSM) tell you what to think and how to feel? They sure as hell try! They lead us down the garden path during every election campaign and, lately, they seem to be planning a funeral for the auto industry.
Are you as sick as I am of the constant spin and OPINION masquerading as news? Once upon a time, News was strictly factual and opinion was called Commentary. If you are as old as I am, you probably remember when televisions news presented an Editorial, often given by a station manager, at the end of a news broadcast. What happened to that policy? When and why did we become so accepting of MSM presenting their opinion or personal take in the midst of news? The line between facts and individual judgment on a subject has become so blurred that many people cannot see the difference.
Here is a good example:
We all know that the Big 3 automakers are in trouble and the government has decided to help them recover by loaning them money. (Just so you know, I live in the Rust Belt and am in favor of saving jobs in the auto industry.) Taxpayer dollars are being used in the effort to preserve an industry. So it is in our best interests - ALL of us here in the US - to see the industry make a comeback.
But how good are the chances of recovery when MSM produces headlines and spin like this?
The ‘Green’ Revolution in Cars Dies Off
U.S. auto firms are getting into the “green” car business at just the wrong time, which is consistent with the rest of their behavior over the last four decades.
Too Little, Too Late for “Green” Big 3?
Pall Hangs Over Detroit Auto Show
It’s the unspoken topic of this year’s North American International Auto Show: How are struggling carmakers going to convince tapped-out consumers that their cars are worth buying?
The headline and article, immediately above, invites (and incites) this type of comment from readers:
Why are the U.S. car manufacturers so glum… they’ve got the American taxpayer to pay their way for them. And that claim by the “marketing” guy, Jennings, that the government is being unfair forcing the manufacturers to make more fuel efficient cars is the standard Detroit nonsense they’ve been spewing for the past 30 years. Excuses and pointing the finger at the government is part of the Detroit culture. And his claim that the government is “forcing the auto manufacturers to spend billions on developing more fuel efficient cars” falls short considering Congress granted the Big 3 $25B late last summer for R&D. Really… the least these useless gits could do is keep their mouths shut while laughing all the way to bank with the taxpayers dollars.
These kinds of incendiary headlines are irresponsible, in my opinion. How many people are reading much more than the headline? Well, maybe not many.
According to Jakob Nielsen:
Skimming instead of reading is a fact of the Web and has been confirmed by countless usability studies.
You can’t tell me that MSM journalists aren’t fully aware that large numbers of people will not read the complete article but will, instead, read the inflammatory headline and skim through the article picking up only bits and pieces. People assume that the News Media reports news. Thus in the mind of the average reader, these headlines and spin become fact and their own opinions are formed as a result. They go on to share their possibly misguided opinions with others and the next thing you know the spin has gone viral. More and more people are then convinced that there is no hope for the auto industry and do not buy American-made vehicles.
Television, print media, you name it… they are all guilty these days of editorializing when they should be gathering and disseminating more facts.
If the Big 3 automakers go under, MSM can pat themselves on the back for contributing to the demise of an industry which once kept many American families afloat in the sea of life, by way of jobs. And in spite of what MSM would have you believe, many of the Americans working in the auto industry do not work directly for the Big 3 but work for parts suppliers at little better than minimum wage. Have you read anything about them lately? No? I didn’t think so. MSM does not see fit to tell their stories because it doesn’t fit into the spin.
Don’t let MSM decide what you should think. Don’t let the News become for you like so many email forwards which are full of half-truths and outright lies. Do as you can do with those emails and fact-check. Look to more than one source for news and information. Then you can have an informed opinion rather than the opinion that MSM wishes you to have.
Photo Credit: Dave Hogg
Tags: Current Events, Mainstream Media, RANTSComments
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