Tired of Mass Media Misinformation...

[RamJet502]

Rexxy, I don't think you understood what they were talking about. The numbers they used came from a Harvard professor comparing total compensation per hour for employees of the domestic auto makers vs the imports.

http://casone.blogs.foxbusiness.com/...rs-are-a-mess/

[ksr]

Originally Posted by RamJet502

Rexxy, I don't think you understood what they were talking about. The numbers they used came from a Harvard professor comparing total compensation per hour for employees of the domestic auto makers vs the imports.

http://casone.blogs.foxbusiness.com/...rs-are-a-mess/

I've heard that $75 figure tossed around a lot of places, and I just assumed that it meant salary + benefits. Total compensation.

Maybe the Fox graphic could have been clearer.

[RamJet502]

Here is another source for the same information since its bash Fox News day here at GMI. (With a different graph)

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1050...per-hour-labor

[gmlifer]

The most over used and most incorrect statement that always gets repeated by all news media is the following:

"GM builds cars that no one wants to buy"

How can that be true when GM is still number 1 in sales in the world.

[RamJet502]

Originally Posted by gmlifer

The most over used and most incorrect statement that always gets repeated by all news media is the following:

"GM builds cars that no one wants to buy"

How can that be true when GM is still number 1 in sales in the world.

True, but they do sell a ton of fleet vehicles though.

[kenmi]

Everything they say is insane nonsense.
We are dealing with a new Aristocracy in this country. We just didn't know that they have coronated themselves. And that they have a plan to push us back into our place: into "the lower classes." They need servants.

[mikmak]

The other day I read a used car review of the Toyota Echo (don't ask me why) and it said that handling was surefooted and went exactly where you pointed it.

Ever actually driven one?

Complete malarky. It under steers at the first sign of a corner.

[Pedal 2 Metal]

It's not just Fox. Every single news channel I watch it's "GM doesn't make cars people want. They need to make more fuel efficient cars".

Ummm... last time I checked GM was the biggest automaker in the US ass hole. You can't own that title and not make cars people want. And when it comes to fuel efficiency GM is competitive in every segment except the compact hybrid segment... where they dont compete at all.

[t-rex]

Originally Posted by ksr

I've heard that $75 figure tossed around a lot of places, and I just assumed that it meant salary + benefits. Total compensation.

Oh I'm well aware of that.

My beef is that the media throws out generalized statements like...

GM Employees Earn $75 an hour...

when we all know that's not true. It should have been made clear that the $75 figure is the result of GM's "Legacy" costs. The way it was presented, as a curt, simple fact, was that GM's workers are paid $75 an hour. It leads the viewer (one not familiar with the industry) to believe that's what some schmo installing a windshield into a Tahoe earns.

And I wasn't singling Fox out (though they're by far the worst). In fact I posted this to get a feedback on whether or not similar junk is being touted elsewhere in the media.

CNN jabbers on and on and on and on and on and on and on about "lack of fuel efficient models" (which rings true for Chrysler, but certainly not GM) and incessant focus on GM's truck lineup — as though Tundras, Armadas, Sequoias, et.al. don't exist...

GM fan or not, most of us are in agreement in assessing the key factor to GM's current woes isn't lack of fuel-efficient models, but decades of mediocre, undesirable, or outright crappy cars.

Today I was listening to a popular local talk-radio program, hosted by one of New Orleans' most famous and respected journalists, Garland Robinette. The topic of today's show was Detroit's woes. It was the first mass-media program since this debacle began that went in-depth into the specific issue of just why so many people avoid domestics, when it's been shown that for the most part, nearly every new product released by domestic makers is just as good as the imports. Garland had accurate sales figures at hand, and prodded listeners to call in to give their views as to why the Honda Civic outsells the Chevy Cobalt two to one.

We can all discuss ad nauseum the reasons why Detroit's reputation got so battered, but it seems nobody wants to tackle the job of how to improve that particular situation.

Later in the afternoon, on the Spud McConnell Show (can you tell I'm a talk-radio fan?), it was a continuation of the Detroit bailout issue. Spud asked listeners what would it take, given the high quality of Detroit's new products, to get them to buy from a domestic.

Suprising (to me at least), most callers felt a killer warranty, and service perks like free oil changes for life, could actually sway them into a domestic showroom.

Everybody's yammering on and on about bailout fairness, the UAW and whatnot, but the bottom line is... domestics simply can't get enough customers into the showrooms.

And I think that topic is sorely ignored in most mass-media.

[Triple-X08]

the media likes to extrapolate the situation by throwing alot of BS statements out there of falsified facts and other nonsense. its just adding fuel to the fire. some stuff they are on the money on, but alot of there information is skewed quite a fair bit. i know exactly what your talking about because i saw the same thing on the tv. i think it was MSNBC actually. or maybe fox news channel as well. hard telling, you get alot of garbage from the media. too hard to keep it all in line.

it would be nice if all of this would just blow over so everyone can get on with there lives. but oh no, we cant do that.

[Triple-X08]

yeah that was another thing as well, fairness of a bailout. oh yeah but its ok to give 700 billion to the banks, but yet we cant even get 25 billion for automakers, i guarantee you that if the automakers fail, it will have more impact than 1 or 2 banks falling. and we all know that, but most people dont see it that way, they just say, mehh, screw the big 3, thats there problem.

[ksr]

Originally Posted by t-rex

Oh I'm well aware of that.

My beef is that the media throws out generalized statements like...

GM Employees Earn $75 an hour...

when we all know that's not true. It should have been made clear that the $75 figure is the result of GM's "Legacy" costs. The way it was presented, as a curt, simple fact, was that GM's workers are paid $75 an hour. It leads the viewer (one not familiar with the industry) to believe that's what some schmo installing a windshield into a Tahoe earns.

And I wasn't singling Fox out (though they're by far the worst). In fact I posted this to get a feedback on whether or not similar junk is being touted elsewhere in the media.

CNN jabbers on and on and on and on and on and on and on about "lack of fuel efficient models" (which rings true for Chrysler, but certainly not GM) and incessant focus on GM's truck lineup — as though Tundras, Armadas, Sequoias, et.al. don't exist...

GM fan or not, most of us are in agreement in assessing the key factor to GM's current woes isn't lack of fuel-efficient models, but decades of mediocre, undesirable, or outright crappy cars.

Today I was listening to a popular local talk-radio program, hosted by one of New Orleans' most famous and respected journalists, Garland Robinette. The topic of today's show was Detroit's woes. It was the first mass-media program since this debacle began that went in-depth into the specific issue of just why so many people avoid domestics, when it's been shown that for the most part, nearly every new product released by domestic makers is just as good as the imports. Garland had accurate sales figures at hand, and prodded listeners to call in to give their views as to why the Honda Civic outsells the Chevy Cobalt two to one.

We can all discuss ad nauseum the reasons why Detroit's reputation got so battered, but it seems nobody wants to tackle the job of how to improve that particular situation.

Later in the afternoon, on the Spud McConnell Show (can you tell I'm a talk-radio fan?), it was a continuation of the Detroit bailout issue. Spud asked listeners what would it take, given the high quality of Detroit's new products, to get them to buy from a domestic.

Suprising (to me at least), most callers felt a killer warranty, and service perks like free oil changes for life, could actually sway them into a domestic showroom.

Everybody's yammering on and on about bailout fairness, the UAW and whatnot, but the bottom line is... domestics simply can't get enough customers into the showrooms.

And I think that topic is sorely ignored in most mass-media.

One thing I've noticed, not that it's surprising, is the level of hate out there for the domestics. The callers on talk radio, bloggers, people who write comments to news articles. They seem against any sort of federal aid at least 80-20, and they want the industry to die.

If you doubted that the domestics had a perception problem, this would make it clear. And if you read the attacks, it is a perception problem. I think half these people still expect to find Vegas and Pintos on the lot.

[ronald mcretard]

Originally Posted by t-rex

My beef is that the media throws out generalized statements like...

GM Employees Earn $75 an hour...

i'm a GM engineer, and i WISH i made $75/hour...

[Ming]

Toyota-driving talking heads on the morning shows spouting their personal biases and decade old stereotypes about GM cars and workers is the absolute worst.

Like the out-of-the-blue "common sense" comments that a guy like Steve Doocy makes.

Hopefully people will consider the source, but I think all of these little jabs in the midst of a crisis cannot be helping the Big 3.

Even the "GM doesn't make the cars people want", comment entirely ignores the Malibu, etc.

Of course, GM does have some blame there -- when Toyota was advertising the Prius at the Super Bowl a few years back GM was sinking millions into HUMMER ads. And the Malibu is a relatively recent car -- the last ho-hum model is still going to be the one people see around them in traffic or as a rental car.

GM management bears a big part in the blame for being unable to shake the old SUV guzzler and mediocre cars image despite having a great line-up of cars.

Also the "XX cars with 30MPG or more!" line is a bit overused and ineffective. People know that unlike Toyota, GM tends to have more brands that share the same platform and engine -- or are just rebadges like the G5 and G3 --- so the impact is less than it could be. They also know that usually GM falls short when it comes to ultra fuel-efficient cars like the Yaris or Fit. There's usually some kind of compromise, be it fuel economy or resale value.

So while the talking heads are annoying to no end with their uninformed comments, they aren't fully to blame for being as ignorant as they are.

Another reason GM needs new management to advertise its new image and direction.

[BrickTamland]

FOX News is a deporable journalistic source. I get the impression the people on FOX are those who are too terrible a journalist to even work for the South New Podunksvillefieldson Gazette yet manage to get on a news network simply becuase they are good looking. Whenever a story fits their political leanings, they always give you lead before the commercial as question. That way they are not actually saying something incorrect, but they are influencing it on the viewers. What I mean is an on-screen graphic and a commentator saying, "Is Barack Obama a close, personal friend of (insert unfavorable person of the week here)? Find out after the break..."