This comes to mind when watching that video
(sticker brought to my attention by Rick Freeman - who saw it on a car):

cessna150jpg.jpg

Ugh.
 
Actually, when it comes to the media and aviation, CJ had it right, they're ARE mostly clueless.

Tobin
 
Speaking of clueless

Some reporter guy on a local here in Oregon was babbling on and on about how he was going to have to come in low. He also mentioned they had trouble with their main nose gears. Uh huh. Which is it; main or nose.
 
Did ya catch the part the lady had to say about a "Class A Airport"?

They have NOT THE SLIGHTEST IDEA what they are talking about!

(Sorry Bob, SOME media! ;) )

:eek: CJ
 
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Looks like an editor at the Globe thought it was BS too. I can't find the airport insecurity video anywhere on the website now.
 
Two column inches in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on page A8 (i.e....buried).

There's an old sarcastic saying in the media "don't let facts get in the way of a good story." Looks like that's not limited to just media folks...:D

One of the thing Phil Boyer suggests, by the way, is pilots call the local media outlet and take a reporter for a ride and explain the local GA to him. Sort of a pre-emptive strike.

How many of you have done that?

Didn't think so.
 
Getting the media on our side

One of the thing Phil Boyer suggests, by the way, is pilots call the local media outlet and take a reporter for a ride and explain the local GA to him. Sort of a pre-emptive strike.
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Fabulous idea. Probably best for you side-by-side guys to do this, so they can see what's happening. Could also be a good idea to go to the local university and offer rides to the media students. Can't get them too early!
 
Great idea. Start with the local newspaper, though, because that's where TV folks get most of their news from.

You know what would be great? I know a lot of airport folks get together on Saturday mornings for breakfast at a hangar. Invite a reporter out to that and hang out.

Some years ago, I met a bunch of EAAers at Lake Elmo (St. Paul). It was right after 9/11. Even though I am a pilot and knew the issues, the result still put forward not only a good story, but ideas for other stories.

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200110/09_collinsb_groundedpilots/


Reporters, generally, aren't stupid people and the us-against-them attitude only fuels the problem that people complain about in the first place. Just don't ask -- or expect -- them to do stories that ignore reality...like owning an airplane isn't primarily the domain of the comparatively affluent. Or that there's some big economic engine that your basic out-of-the way GA airport provides that can't be replaced by a bunch of houses or an industrial park.

The trick is to prevent having to provide THAT story in the first place, because if you do, you're on the defensive and there's no reason to have it get to that.

Airports are great places with lots of different and interesting people and lots of individual neat stories to tell. People are out there restoring aircraft with their own history to tell. Why from what I hear, people are even BUILDING THEIR OWN AIRPLANES!!!!

As anybody who's ever tried to get an EAA chapter to provide things to the chapter newsletter knows, pilots are woefully inept at telling their own stories because they think they're not interesting or important.

They're wrong.
 
Bob Collins} In a PLANE? A REAL LIVE PLANE?????? Isn't that dangerous?:D[/QUOTE said:
Not at all. It is a new airplane, well maintained and inspected, and flown by an experienced, FAA licensed pilot. No more dangerous than driving your can down the street, really.

(OK, as a jouranlist, I'm not sure I can trust you anyway ;)

Jeff
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Just as well. Since I'm a smart reporter:p, I'd have already researched the issue and probably talked to John and Martha King.

https://www.avemco.com/briefingroom/managementskills.asp

Reminds me of a story I did once about the Northwest Airlink crash in Hibbing a few years ago that looked at all the ways airlines hide the reduction in standards -- at least then. Not so much now. -- when you stepped from a legacy carrier to -- in many cases -- a "regional carrier."

Anyway, the head of Express Airlines I (which operatd the ill-fated flight) was giving me a big song and dance b.s. (as people often try to do) figuring since I'm a reporter, I'm too stupid to know anything.

So he hits me with this long litany of b.s. claims and then says "this was a textbook flight" (it wasn't, for a number of reasons, not the least of which included the fact the pilot was popping anti-depressants and bullied his co-pilots so CRM was out of the question....a fact that contributed mightily to a slam-dunk maneuver in which they sped right past the MDA and into a taconite pile while on a back-course approach to Hibbing).

So then I'm talking to John Nance, pretty smart aviation guy, and he gives me the quote of the piece "I've yet to see a textbook flight that ends in a crash." All I had to do was play one right after the other.

The guy looked like an idiot and Northwest eventually bought out Express. Because the truth of it was the guy ran a crappy airline.

I know all the faults of reporters, believe me. But you know what the biggest fault is of people who talk to reporters is? Trying to fool them into believing somethign that's not true. Sometimes it works, but when it doesn't, man , can it backfire.

That's what I was alluding to earlier with Phil Boyer. He's wrong to try to argue the merits of GA on an economic basis in your average small town strip. It's an unwinnable argument. Don't even make it. He can throw all the charts up he wants.

And he's wrong to roll his eyes when these stupid -- and they are stupid -- anti-GA stories about terrorism come out.

Why?

Because a few guys made two big buildings fall, put a big hole in the Pentagon, and killed over 3,000 people.

And you know what their principle weapon was? It wasn't a plane. It was a $1.99 boxcutter.

So the way to handle these reports with the public isn't the "are you CRAZY?" stance like Boyer and his crowd take.

It's to acknowledge the fear as being real and say "yep, anything CAN happen." Ryder trucks are packed full of fertilizer -- fertilizer, for God's sake -- and blow up federal buildings. And a pair of boxcutters are used as the principle tool to take control of jets to kill thousands of people. And we never saw either one of those things happening. You can't lock down all of the possible things that could happen or else Israel would ban pizza shops, Great Brittain would stop running the subway. We do the best we can and we get to know one another and we stay on guard. Because eliminating GA is running scared and we don't run scared in this country. It's not who we are. It's only who the terrorists want us to be. If that's what you want us to be too, then clear the skies, close the pizza shops, shut down the trains and, oh yeah, lock down the tool bin at Home Depot."

Then I say to the reporter or the city councilman or the angry neighbor, "So? Wanna go for a ride?"

Course I gotta get these friggin' nutplates finished first.:D

But seriously, want to get a good story in the paper. Call up a reporter, bring 'em out to your EAA chapter, and round up the "greatest generation" guys, sit 'em down...and have 'em start telling stories about how they won a war and saved a generation. Point out that THESE are the folks who hang around airports and THIS is general aviation.

Let's see the local people be afraid of GA then.
 
Media

I know all the faults of reporters, believe me. But you know what the biggest fault is of people who talk to reporters is? Trying to fool them into believing somethign that's not true. Sometimes it works, but when it doesn't, man , can it backfire.
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So true. Anyone who has had any media training from a decent company will know this. It's almost the cardinal rule - do not lie. You don't necessarily need to tell a reporter everything you know, but don't say things that you know not to be true.

One serious disappointment I have with most reporting is that there is rarely any perspective on the relative risks involved with various events. Car crashes have killed more people in the last two months of this year than Islamic terrorism has killed in the last 100 years. Mistakes in hospitals have killed double that number. Clearly terrorism is more "interesting" as a media event, and therefore gets much more airtime, but unfortunately the general public equates this airtime to risk. We in the aviation community suffer as a result.
 
rv8ch said:
One serious disappointment I have with most reporting is that there is rarely any perspective on the relative risks involved with various events. Car crashes have killed more people in the last two months of this year than Islamic terrorism has killed in the last 100 years. Mistakes in hospitals have killed double that number. Clearly terrorism is more "interesting" as a media event, and therefore gets much more airtime, but unfortunately the general public equates this airtime to risk. We in the aviation community suffer as a result.
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Yeah, that's the "routine" thing I mentioned before. Car crashes are pretty routine. But where terrorism is concerned, a great part of that is a reflection of what is being covered. I know that car crashes kill more people every year than terrorism, but I was still glued to the TV on Sept. 11. I don't think it was more interesting as a "media event," I think it was more interesting because it defined a sea change in society. And it's changed us way more than car crashes ever could.

But we ALL suffer with that and as we tell our stories and open up our hangars and airports to the world tos ee who we are, it's important not to present ourselves and our industry as a particular victim. That's one of the mistakes Boyer makes all the time.
 
By the way, in terms of stories to tell, it amazes me, actually, how many stories are turned in to Doug that should also be reported to the local media (but usually aren't).

Specifically, the stories in the aftermath of Katrina about how GA and local pilots pitched in was a great chance to tell a story. We were all jazzed up, of course, (and rightly so) to read the stories here, and then goosed up to see them on the EAA site or the AOPA site. But for the most part, that's preaching to the choir. Those stories needed to get to the general public. And the media would've eaten up.

All of these are great opportunities to make a favorable impression.
 
tobinbasford said:
Actually, when it comes to the media and aviation, CJ had it right, they're ARE mostly clueless.

Tobin
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I agree. But, you know, it seems students of journalism are very limited in participation-type activities of any kind. Flying and my other sport, shooting, seems to bring out the core stupidity nourished by those of the ivory tower ilk.

Have any of you noticed the claims ( I wish I had kept the news site) about how dangerous the paint on the airport runway centerline is? "The nose gear didn't burn until it hit that paint...". Lordy.
 
Skyhook said:
Have any of you noticed the claims ( I wish I had kept the news site) about how dangerous the paint on the airport runway centerline is? "The nose gear didn't burn until it hit that paint...". Lordy.
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Well, like I said, there's clueless reporters, to be sure. But sweeping generalizations are -- as they usually are -- pretty likely to be wrong. I can show you some pretty stupid pilots. But I would never be so arrogant to point out that pilots are stupid because of it.

Less whining, more pro-activity is the answer.

If you have an us against them attitude, then you'll always have an us against them result.

And you wonder why airports don't have the friends they need to stay open?
 
Bob Collins said:
I know all the faults of reporters, believe me. But you know what the biggest fault is of people who talk to reporters is? Trying to fool them into believing somethign that's not true. Sometimes it works, but when it doesn't, man , can it backfire.
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Having spent most of my career in an industry that has been the subject of more "poor" reports than I care to acknowledge, I'll not argue about always telling the truth. However, bringing up a close second is saying "SOMETHING"!

A reporter is going to do just that: report. And if you won't talk to him with your side of the story, he'll get it somewhere, because he is going to write something! He'll find the poor SOB that could'nt stay sober or awake enough to solo after 100 hours of training to describe how dangerous and complicated flying really is. An exageration? Possibly, but I don't think by much. People who have an axe to grind often love to hear themselves speak, even if they don't know what they're talking about.

As far as clueless is concerned, I suspect that is the normal state for most reporters on most subjects, and in many cases the preferred state. Do you want information or someone's opinion, biased by their own experience and views? Again, if we provide that information, we may directly affect the outcome, and bias that and future stories to our favor. Everybody with a cause does it, why shouldn't we? Being noble or even right doesn't mean squat if our side is never heard, and laying back and waiting for other people to do the 'right thing' never works.

My problem with reporters are not those that are 'clueless', rather those that have already made up their minds, or are looking for the next Pulitzer by sensationalizing the story past the point of recognition. I hope the Janet Cooke's and Jayson Blair's are true anomalies, but even if not, we have little to lose by speaking up!

Now, slow news days? Those scare the bejesus out of me! I always try to avoid fires and explosions on slow news days!
 
ddurakovich said:
do just that: report. And if you won't talk to him with your side of the story, he'll get it somewhere, because he is going to write something!


As far as clueless is concerned, I suspect that is the normal state for most reporters on most subjects, and in many cases the preferred state.
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Well, I'm sorry you feel that way and I'll leave it at that even though I think I can hold my own in the knowledge category with anyone here. But maybe not. Maybe it's just another sign of me being stupid and clueless. :confused:

I'm sure I'll be reading somewhere...sometime....about some effort springing up to save an airport and "get their story out," way....wayyyy too late to make any difference.

Such a shame.
 
Bob Collins said:
Well, I'm sorry you feel that way and I'll leave it at that even though I think I can hold my own in the knowledge category with anyone here. But maybe not. Maybe it's just another sign of me being stupid and clueless. :confused:

I'm sure I'll be reading somewhere...sometime....about some effort springing up to save an airport and "get their story out," way....wayyyy too late to make any difference.

Such a shame.
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Sorry Bob, didn't mean it as a put-down, guess I didn't make my intent clear enough, nor was I directing this towards you specifically! In fact, you are the exception to the rule.

I suspect general news reporters are quite knowledgeable in some areas, but not all. As such, they will be very good in some areas, and clueless in the rest. True of all professions. Not a bad thing, just a fact of life. I suspect that there are very few that are knowledgeable regarding aviation matters, and that when the call comes in, whoever is on deck gets the call, regardless of whether they know anything about the subject or not.

Again, I'm so sorry, there was no offense intended.

Dave
 
saw the thread, rage ensued

http://www.boston.com/news/necn/Shows/news_night/

The clips are still out there, about half way down the long page.

(ENTER SARCASM)

I never knew my 1200 foot grass strip with the falling down windsock was good enough to be considered class C by terrorist experts...

Wouldn't the density altitude be a real bitch at those Class A airports?

Jonathan
 
LOL... You caught the Class A airport thing too huh?

Thanks for finding this fine piece of reporting!

Now we know why it is called a new "STORY"!

They make it up as they go!

:mad: CJ
 
Support the AOPA

These guys are on our side. Keep your membership current and give to their PAC fund. Keep after them Phil!
Randy Utsey
N55CU res
RV-7 empennage finished, QB on the truck
 
more paranoid folks running about!

Once again more paranoid folks running around...after watching the news clip it seems like there are to many folks that would enjoy living with big brother regulating EVERYTHING so as to ENSURE saftey.

My goodness a free country has risks folks...but I am willing to take those risks to remain free! Making people where a badge at a country airport would increase this nations national security so much! NOT :eek:

I marvel at how fast freedoms are disappearing at the hands of a few hysterical people who seem to either run for office or listen to other hysterical folks so that they appear to "care". :(
 
Just curious if there's anybody, in the month that this thread has been active, who has followed the advice and contacted the local media to show them around, take them for a ride, and otherwise give them the background they need to report their stories more accurately?

There are folks out there who apparently are doing a good job of giving us a bad name. What are we doing about it?

Hopefully more than sending $39 to Washington and letting Phil do it. That is important. But it's nowhere near as effective as being proactive and positive.
 
Bob, to be perfectly honest with you... I considered it.

After the "show" I happened by Griffin Air, the radio shop "featured" by the "show" and mentioned the episode.

The folks (whom I trust entirely) said that the news people came to the airport under the guise of a different intent. They told the airport and it's empoyees that it was going to be a story on commuting to the islands from KHYA. Well, as we know... it really wasn't. With a title called "Airport Insecurity" it is safe to say, they lied.

Soooooo, given their past performance I am not inclined to open up my regionally familiar mouth to their kind of advertisements. I am a local teacher, pilot, homeowner, former businessman and citizen who needs to live and make a living in this southern New England area.

I just don't trust them to sell my true feelings. I think this is why people feel the way they do about the media, in general.

It is too bad it has to be this way.

:( CJ
 
Bob Collins said:
There are folks out there who apparently are doing a good job of giving us a bad name. What are we doing about it?
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Sorry Bob, I just can't buy anymore the argument that the media are really interested in being told the other side of this story...especially after viewing the NECN piece and hearing John's account of the apparently disingenuous behavior of their reporter.

I absolutely agree that it's in our best interest to be proactive, cooperative and honest with the media. But all the airplane rides, facts and goodwill in the world won't make a damn bit of difference when a good FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) story can help sell airtime or advertising space.

Dave
 
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Thermos said:
Sorry Bob, I just can't buy anymore the argument that the media are really interested in being told the other side of this story...especially after viewing the NECN piece and hearing John's account of the apparently disingenuous behavior of their reporter.

Dave
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Dave, he's probably a crappy reporter (which might explain why he's working at NECN). I don't necessarily think anyone should waste their time with him. But there are lots of good reporters out there who actually CARE about getting stories right and I know a lot of people don't believe that and that's certainly their right.

But those reporters are a tremendous resource for us to get our perspective out there and neuter guys like this NECN guy. You don't actually have to have a story per se, just contact a reporter (the local newspaper is a good place to start because 99.9% of what's on TV news comes directly from the newspaper) and just say, "hey, I know you may cover issues from time to time that involve general aviation or XYZ airport, would you like to come out for a cup of coffee and I'll show you around and give you some background and answer your questions so that in the future you'll have more information?"

Any reporter worth his salt is going to say "yes." Every time.

This, unfortunately, isn't one of those situations where if we just do nothing, bad reporters and their influence will simply go away. This is one of those situations where if we do nothing, we go away.
 
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