OT - Just Another Case FreeP Sucking

Maybe it's the just the Freep but I suspect it is journalists everywhere. They THINK they are working hard, digging out the hard details of stories but, in fact, they are not. An then there is the basic inability to comprehend math. Is it because high schools and collegiate liberal arts educations short shrift math? Perhaps. You would think a simple analysis like that presented in the GM response could have been undertaken by the reporter and proven/disproven by conversations with industry insiders and analysts. But like I said, that requires work. So, we have a confluence of not understanding the effort required to get a story right with an alarming lack of mathematics understanding. The exact same formula in the RichRod excess practice story and this more recent GM production story. The print media loves to trash the blogosphere as a bunch of guys in pajamas but the blogosphere is where you go today to find truly informed, intelligent analysis by people who know a little about what they speak. I may have to look for a while but I'll find it and will know when I've found it. Unlike modern American newspapers, which con themselves and us into thinking they provide something of value when they seldom do. So, to Mr. Paul Anger, defender of Michael Rosenberg and trasher of the blogosphere, I offer this advice. STFU.

Part of the problem, IME, is that the compression/acceleration of the news cycle puts a premium on breaking the story, not on investigative journalism. It's best to be first with a story, rather than being right. Background research is generally the first casualty in this battle. Thus the Freep's abject failure to ground their investigation of Michigan's practice habits in the context of even one other football program. Couple that pressure with a fundamental lack of comprehension of basic economic concepts and mathematics, and most business/economic journalism is simply awful. I'll never forget the sensationalistic stories about Enron's banks getting paid before Enron's shareholders. A scandal? Not so much. The banks took limited upside (it's called fixed income for a reason) in exchange for first priority in repayment, whereas shareholders have unlimited upside but get paid last in a meltdown. About 2 minutes of googling creditor priority in bankruptcy would've made it clear that 200 years of precedent and contract law stipulate quite clearly that senior secured creditors are ahead of everyone except the taxman in recovery priority. Instead, there were months of uninformed storylines about common shareholders getting shafted in favor of the banks.

Thats called complete ownage. I'd love to see the look on the Freep editor's face when he reads that.

"Rich Rodriguez and GM May Require UM Football Players to Work Assembly Lines for Playing Time" DETROIT - In an unprecedented move, sources requesting anonymity close to both the University of Michigan Athletic Department and General Motors (NYSE: GM) are telling the Detroit Free Press that student-athletes within the Michigan Football program will be required to work on assembly lines for playing time. It was not denied by either the University or GM. Asked for his reaction to the potential labor relationship, UAW President Ron Gettlefinger said, "I really don't know what to say. If this is true, I think we'd have a real problem with this." When questioned about the report, Michigan head football coach Rich Rodriguez responded, "That's the dumbest (expletive deleted) thing I've ever heard." GM Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson was equally wary, "I'd like to know who you've been talking to." Mark D'Antonio, head football coach of Michigan State University, reacted this way when contacted by the Free Press: "We care about our student-athletes. We would never expect them to work a full-time job in addition to their other football activities - which are much less than the NCAA-mandated, 20 hours per week, by the way - and their school work." He continued by saying, "We run a clean program around here."