If there is one thing I cannot stand as a former journalist it is lazy reporting. And too often that's what we get, especially from business reporters.
The latest example is Detroit Free Press business writer Tom Walsh. His column Sunday (August 3, 2008) is the classic case of a reporter who would rather cozy up to CEOs in industry than take the time to find out what's really going on. This column is so bad I can barely stand to link to it. You can guess the premise -- there are no jobs in Michigan because of the UAW.
As usual management is held blameless in everything that goes wrong between workers and their bosses. Oh, sure, there is a veiled mention late in the article about CEOs receiving huge bonuses, but Walsh won't name any of them and the amounts they received. Perhaps he doesn't want to shock the sensibilities of his readers by mentioning words like "$250 million."
Yet he can point fingers specifically at Ron Gettelfinger and the UAW.
Walsh also brushes off the billions in concessions that Gettelfinger negotiated for the Big Three. Why is that a sign of a "tough labor climate"? Isn't that the sign of a union that values its employers and bent over backwards to help them survive? Don't see that in the article anywhere, do you?
Why does the Free Press always blame workers and never examine management closely? Why is that a UAW company like Deere & Co. is making millions of dollars (their stock just split a few months ago) while paying high wages to members of the same union as the Big 3? Could it be that Deere has strong management while the Big 3 is poorly run? Could not the Free Press examine the differences between the companies and get some answers?
Oh, but that would be too much work. And lord knows we can't have reporters doing any of that, not when they can dash off a column from the top of their head, relying on the same old stereotypes.
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