Biz media being too kind to automakers and bailout

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs wants to know why the media — with the exception of The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and New York Post — have been so easy on the struggling automakers.

Fuchs writes, “You can’t take a hometown news outlet’s spin too seriously in a situation like this. The very existence of the Detroit Free Press is based in no small measure on the survival of the Big Three in some recognizable state.

“But let’s take a look at the Financial Times, which weighed in with something even more positive: ‘Detroit’s Big Three open to oversight: Auto bail-out talks gather speed on Capitol Hill.’

“The Financial Times did put its finger on a slight uptick in Big Three performance and the slightly warmer Washington greeting they got in response. But as much as I like to throw my opinion behind the minority (the majority’s conventional wisdom, especially in the echo chamber that is both Wall Street and the financial media, often turns on a dime and catches up), I think the FT is making too much of the low expectations the Big Three set their first go-round.”

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