Automakers Bar Reporters p. 12

By: MARK FITZGERALD AT THE INSISTENCE of the United Auto Workers union, Detroit's Big Three automakers are planting "No News and Free Press Wanted Here" signs in front of their contract negotiation press conferences and ceremonies.
At the first of these ceremonial handshakes and press conferences, held June 10, Ford Motor Co. agreed to bar from a news conference room reporters who are crossing picket lines to work at the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News.
Free Press and News journalists skipped a similar ceremony held at Chrysler Corp. the next day ? and the automaker decided not to hold a press conference, in part, to avoid having to bar reporters from the two papers, said Chrysler spokesman Tony Cervone.
The barring of Free Press and News reporters, which had been announced before the Ford ceremonies, was denounced in a column by Free Press publisher Heath Meriwether as antithetical to liberty ? and business.
"Every time a company yields to a capricious demand from a union leader, it sends a clear message to companies . . . that South Carolina may be a better place to invest than Michigan," Meriwether wrote.
Down Lafayette Boulevard at the Free Press' business partner and news competitor, Detroit News editor and publisher Robert H. Giles took a more relaxed approach about the action.
"What happened yesterday [at Ford] was a photo opportunity. We've known the unions wanted that. We didn't want to press the issue," Giles said.
"We've got sources in the union and sources in the company," he added. "Our coverage has been very extensive. This was basically a photo opportunity ? so who cares?"
The United Auto Workers union has been one of labor's biggest supporters of the newspaper strikers. The union has raised money for strikers, provided massive numbers of workers at protest rallies and sit-ins, funded a substantial part of the cost of operating the weekly Detroit Sunday Journal newspaper produced by strikers ? and has adamantly refused to cooperate with journalists still working at the Free Press or News.
At their own news conference during the opening of the Ford contract talks, the UAW also refused entry to a reporter from USA Today, which, like the Detroit News, is owned by Gannett Co.
Cervone admitted that at the Chrysler ceremony, UAW President Stephen Yokich tried to order a USA Today journalist out of the ceremonial handshake photo opportunity, despite an agreement with Chrysler that only News and Free Press employees would be barred.
But Wall Street Journal reporter Angelo B. Henderson reported that Yokich went further ? refusing to participate in the ceremony until the USA Today reporter had left the room.
For their part, the automakers say their decision to bar reporters does not mean they are taking sides in the strike.
"Although we do not take a position in the Detroit Newspaper Agency's labor dispute, we do respect the UAW's sensitivity to that dispute, and we do not wish this matter to become an issue when our focus should be attending to matters that directly concern . . . the competitiveness of the company," Ford said in a prepared statement.
Similarly, Chrysler's vice president for communications, A.C. "Bud" Liebler, issued this statement: "Although Chrysler does not take a position on the Detroit Newspaper Agency's dispute, our priority is to conduct successful talks with the UAW in the most positive atmosphere possible.
"If excluding reporters from the two striking newspapers in joint situation is necessary to create that atmosphere, we believe it's appropriate. Successful resolution of these contract talks, covering 16,126 employees, takes precedence over other considerations.
"Chrysler, as appropriate, will continue to provide news and background information to its employees all news media as it relates to the company's position during bargaining."
Last fall, it was Chrysler's management that was boycotting one of the Detroit daily papers.
Angered by the Detroit News' coverage of a corporate takeover attempt by investor Kirk Kerkorian, Chrysler said it would not permit News journalists at its headquarters or public events.
Tempers long ago cooled, and the automaker and newspaper have a good relationship now, Chrysler spokesman Cervone said.
Detroit Newspapers is the joint operating agency that handles business, production and distribution operations for the News and the Free Press, which is owned by Knight-Ridder Inc.
Six unions, representing more than 2,000 workers, have been on strike at the agency and the two papers since last July.
The Newspaper Guild, representing newsroom employees at both papers, is among those striking unions, but about half of its members are crossing the picket line to work. The papers have published continuously since the beginning of the strike.
?(Chrysler Corp. Statement
"Although Chrysler does not take a position on the Detroit Newspaper Agency's dispute, our priority is to conduct successful talks with the UAW in the most positive atmosphere possible.
"If excluding reporters from the two striking newspapers in joint situation is necessary to create that atmosphere, we believe it's appropriate. Successful resolution of these contract talks, covering 16,126 employees, takes precedence over other considerations.") [Caption]

?(Ford Motor Co. Statement
"Although we do not take a position in the Detroit Newspaper Agency's labor dispute, we do respect the UAW's sensitivity to that dispute, and we do not wish this matter to become an issue when our focus should be attending to matters that directly concern . . . the competitiveness of the company.") [Caption]

?( "Every time a company yields to a cparicious demand from a union leader, it sends a clear message to companies...that South Carolina may be a better place to invest than Michigan.") [Caption]
?(-Heath Meriwether, publisher, publisher, Detroit Free Free) [Photo & Caption]
# Editor & Publisher n June 22, 1996