Media going overboard with Toyota

Steve Kerch, the assistant managing editor of Marketwatch.com, writes that the media coverage of Toyota’s safety issues has gotten to be too much, with the latest example being the Prius in California with the stuck gas pedal.

Kerch writes, “Yes, there have been several systemic problems with Toyota Motor Corp.  cars of late. And we should take seriously any new reports of potential life-endangering foul ups. But magnifying beyond all reasonable proportion one isolated incident isn’t going to help resolve current safety concerns that have arisen with a number of automakers.

“This, though, has become the American Way, ever since O.J. meandered down a California freeway in his Ford Bronco. The cable networks now salivate over any sort of highway chase or high-speed thriller, hoping they have the next classic road drama — and, though they won’t admit it, hoping even harder it is the next road disaster — live and in person.

“Well, this wasn’t it. But we’re still forced to endure the media hype as if it was. Say, whatever happened to the Balloon Boy?”

Read more here.