Joe Conason: A Ruinous Bias Against Helping Detroit

[babylonsister]

A Ruinous Bias Against Helping Detroit
by Joe Conason


Nearly every current poll shows that most Americans oppose federal assistance to General Motors, Chrysler and Ford, which must be worrying news for members of Congress as they ponder whether to support the proposed $15 billion emergency loan package. Political analysts warn of the consequences for lawmakers who support the “bailout everyone loves to hate.”

Like any survey that asks people to answer simply yes or no, however, the polling on the auto bailout reveals little or nothing about the information (or misinformation) behind the negative response. As they prepare to vote, the legislators should also consider how voters will feel when the nation suffers the full consequences of a cratering auto industry—and find out that the facts were not quite what they seemed to be.

Media coverage of the auto crisis has been powerfully biased against assistance to the industry, in part because reporters, editors and TV producers—not to mention the corporate owners—have yet to shed the outdated free-market fundamentalism that has shaped American journalism for so many years. The worst example in recent weeks has been the constant repetition of skewed statistics on auto worker compensation, which was said to exceed $70 per hour.

Such stories were meant to emphasize the supposed greed of the unionized workforce. Yet that $70-plus figure, which actually includes pensions and health benefits to retirees, grossly distorted what Detroit’s assembly mechanics receive in their weekly paychecks. And it most certainly stoked hostility to those workers and the industry among Americans who listened to the crude propaganda.

Then there was the incessantly repeated story of the stupid auto executives who flew to Washington for Congressional hearings on their private jets. That was true and deplorable, of course, but scarcely of great relevance to the issue of whether America should preserve its manufacturing base and a million jobs in auto and related industries.

more...

http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/ruinous-bias-against-helping-detroit

[DJ13]

1. A big K&R!

[madrchsod]

2. hmmm...where have i read the same thing

about the greedy union workers and the big bad auto companies that built autos that are`t any good...where oh where might that be?

[navarth]

3. k & r, of course

but will the truth come out in time?

[Bjorn Against]

4. Conason makes some very good points, but the media has not been biased against the auto industry

Has the media used this as an excuse to unfairly slam union workers? Yes. The media has certainly not been biased against the automakers in this debate however, just look at their commercials and you will see the media takes big money from the auto manufacturers. The media is and always has been in bed with the auto industry, if it were not for them they would have hundreds of millions less in ad revenues. For years they have spun the news in ways that helped the auto industry, they told us that auto emissions may not contribute to global warming, they told us that we would always have cheap oil to power our SUVs, they told us that mass transit was a waste of taxpayer dollars while never saying the same thing about projects to maintain our car culture. The media has been in bed with the auto industry for years, and I don't buy that they have been biased against their friends who have sent them big paychecks.

I don't want to see all the jobs that would be lost if the auto industry were to go under, so I can understand why people want to save them and I will admit that it may be a necessary thing to do. That being said however any plan to save the auto industry needs to hold the industry accountable, and ensure that if they are going to be saved they are going to be running things on our terms. Until I see a bailout plan that restructures the companies in such a way that we can ensure that they no longer screw our workers and our environment for their own profit then I have a hard time supporting this bailout.

[Blue_Tires]

5. k+r