Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Analysis:

This story is based upon a media release by Philip Morris. The tobacco company has a new ad campaign out asking Hollywood to not use its tobacco products in films. The story provides a summary of the ad campaign and then cites two sources who have a history of challenging methods used by tobacco companies that target youth. The first source is with Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the second is with the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education which hosts the web resource Smoke Free Movies. Why did the AP story not mention that the second source focuses on smoking in movies? There is also no historical context in regards to the tobacco company’s role in promoting smoking in films.

You can see that there is a section of original AP story that was omitted in the GR Press version. In this section the story refers to an actual source for the study they mention in the article. They also mention the Motion Picture Association of America in this story and that a spokesperson could not be reached.

Story:

RICHMOND, Va. — The nation’s largest cigarette maker is asking Hollywood not to put its products on the big screen, citing studies that have shown cinematic portrayals of tobacco use can entice children to smoke.

Richmond-based Philip Morris USA said Wednesday that it will run advertisements in Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and other trade publications imploring moviemakers: “Please Don’t Give Our Cigarette Brands a Part in Your Movie.”

The ad campaign begins this week and will last several months, Philip Morris spokesman David Sutton said. He said the initiative was conceived after meetings with entertainment industry representatives.

But Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the industry has been unmoved by previous appeals to shield children from smoking scenes.

“Hollywood has ignored the very serious problem that smoking in the movies contributes to youth tobacco use,” said Myers, adding that “the problem goes beyond which brands are shown.”

Sutton said Philip Morris has long denied all requests for permission to show its brands — including top-selling Marlboro cigarettes — in movies intended for general audiences. However, he acknowledged that moviemakers are not required to seek permission.

Stanton Glantz, head of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California at San Francisco, dismissed the ad campaign as a public relations ploy.

Glantz said that instead of threatening to sue over the use of their brands in movies, Philip Morris officials are saying, “`Aw, shucks, we really wish you wouldn’t show our products on screen.”‘

Glantz, a professor of medicine and leading critic of smoking in movies shown to children, said that even if Philip Morris brands are not shown, the company will benefit from smoking scenes because Marlboro is the leading brand among adolescents.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

A study published last year in the medical journal Pediatrics is one of several that have shown that children exposed to smoking in the movies are more likely than their peers to start using tobacco. Philip Morris cites that study and two others in its ads.

Attempts to reach Motion Picture Association of America spokesmen for comment were unsuccessful. However, industry representatives have said that while they don’t want to encourage youth smoking, filmmakers’ freedom of speech in storytelling must be preserved.

Myers and other anti-smoking activists believe the movie rating system should be amended to require an “R” rating for films that show a lot of tobacco use, which he contended is more damaging to children than scenes containing sex, violence and foul language.

“To the best of my knowledge, nobody’s ever died from hearing a four-letter word,” Myers said.

Analysis:

This Grand Rapids Press story ran the day after the White House announced that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was stepping down. The only sources cited in the story are Representatives Hoekstra and Ehlers, and Senator Carl Levin. Hoekstra and Ehlers respond directly to the resignation, with no commentary about Rumsfeld’s tenure at the DoD. Why did the Press omit any commentary from an independent sources? There is reference in Hoekstra’s comments that if Rumsfeld had resigned earlier the Republicans would have done better in the election. Is Hoekstra implying that voters were unhappy about the war in Iraq? If so, what about Rumsfeld’s position would voters have disagreed with? There is mention that Levin “sees no reason not to move forward with the process of confirming Gates as the next secretary of defense during the lame-duck congressional session.” This is the only comment about Gates, therefore the Press provides no background on the nominee to succeed Rumsfeld.

Story:

If Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigned six months ago, it might have cushioned electoral losses among Republicans, said U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Holland.

But Hoekstra is glad President Bush didn’t oust the controversial architect of his Iraq war policy — a man who is “not very open to criticism,” Hoekstra said — immediately before Tuesday’s midterm election.

“Doing it shortly before an election, I think would have been inappropriate,” said Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee until a new Democratic majority takes control of that chamber in January.

“I’ve met with our men and women overseas. The last thing you want to do is give them any indication they’re part of a political football.”

Bush announced Wednesday he would accept Rumsfeld’s resignation and nominate former CIA Director Robert Gates to the post. Rumsfeld has held the job six years. The announcement came after Republicans lost control of the U.S. House and Senate.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin said Wednesday that as long as all the “groundwork has been laid,” he sees no reason not to move forward with the process of confirming Gates as the next secretary of defense during the lame-duck congressional session.

Levin is the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will conduct Gates’ confirmation hearing. If the committee approves Gates, the final confirmation vote would go to the full Senate.

Rumsfeld’s resignation signals a retreat from Bush’s position — restated just a week before the election — that the defense secretary was a “smart, tough, capable administrator” and would remain. Rumsfeld has been criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for mistakes in handling the Iraq war, especially for not sending in enough troops to quell a growing insurgency.

U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers believes “it’s time for a change” in the important post.

“It was more than time to get new perspectives in there,” said Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids. “That’s not saying anything against Rumsfeld. He’s a very capable guy. Six years is a long time in a job like that and it really can wear on you.”

Ehlers said he doesn’t know much about Gates, but would be surprised “if Gates did not take a different direction. I think clearly he will come forward with some new ideas.”

The resignation took Republicans by surprise, said Hoekstra, especially since the president had so recently affirmed his support for Rumsfeld.

“A lot of members weren’t all that excited” to hear the president support Rumsfeld, Hoekstra said.

“Why are you injecting Donald Rumsfeld into the campaign five to 10 days before an election?”

Analysis:

This story is basically a form of stenography, with channel 13 providing comments from Bush on what Rumsfeld has achieved as Defense Secretary. Why did WZZM 13 not provide another perspective on Rumsfeld’s time at the DoD? Why did they not verify the claims of the President? If “50 million people” were liberated would it be good journalism to hear that from those liberated?

There is mention that Robert Gates has been nominated as the new Secretary of Defense, but no background information has been provided other than the fact that he is a former CIA Director. The only other source cited in the story is Congressman Hoekstra. What does he mean when he says “radical Islam?”

Story:

Newsreader – President Bush has announced that Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down from his post. He has been Defense Secretary since President Bush took office 6 years ago. This afternoon, the President praised Rumsfeld’s service.

Bush – History will record on Don Rumsfeld’s watch that the men and women of our military overthrew two terrorist regimes, liberated some 50 million people, brought justice to the terrorist Zarqawi, and scores of senior Al Qeada operatives and helped stop new terrorist attacks on our people.

Newsreader – Former CIA chief Bob Gates will take over Rumsfeld’s place as Secretary of Defense if he is confirmed by the Senate.

Newsreader two – Local Congressman Pete Hoekstra among those wishing the Secretary of Defense well.

Hoekstra – Donald Rumsfeld served the country for six years. I wish him well. Obviously there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. This does now provide us with an opportunity to put a fresh set of eyes on to the situation in Iraq and also more importantly a set of eyes on radical Islam.

Total Time: 1 minute and 2 seconds

Analysis:

This article is based upon a visit to Taylor Michigan by former President Clinton to rally Democrats to support the re-election of Gov. Granholm and Senator Stabenow. Clinton is cited in the story and uses words like “opportunity,” “responsible” and “go forward together.” What do you think he meant by those terms? The only issue raised was jobs, but no qualifiers were presented other than a statement by Senator Stabenow when she “told the crowd that she and fellow Democrats will continue to fight for the middle class.” Does that mean the Democrats are not going to fight for the poor? The only other source cited in the story was Michigan GOP chair Saul Anuzis who made claims about jobs and the economy being bad under Granholm. The reporter provides no verification of these claims.

Story:

TAYLOR, Mich. – Former President Clinton told a crowd of Democrats on Tuesday that they must fight to re-elect Gov. Jennifer Granholm to keep efforts to turn around the state’s troubled economy on track.

Clinton headlined a rally outside City Hall in this Detroit suburb with Granholm and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, fellow Democrats who face tough challenges from Republicans in the November election.

“If you believe that Michigan ought to be a place where everybody has an opportunity, where everybody’s expected to be responsible, where we go forward together, you need to vote for the governor and senator,” Clinton told the crowd, which a Michigan Democratic Party spokesman estimated at about 1,000 people.

Clinton has proved popular with Michigan voters, winning the state in 1992 and 1996. After the rally in Taylor, he planned to attend a fundraiser for Stabenow in Romulus and energize Democratic activists to work hard to re-elect her and Granholm.

Although Michigan was the only state in the country not hit by a hurricane to lose jobs last year, Clinton told the audience that Granholm and Stabenow are fighting hard to keep jobs in Michigan and noted that a turnaround takes time – especially with a Republican controlled government in Washington and GOP led House and Senate in Michigan.

“These women have done a good job under exceedingly difficult circumstances,” Clinton said. “They have carried the burden of deficits they did not create, they showed responsibility that others didn’t show to point a path to a future that’s better.”

But Republicans say that if Michigan wants a better economy, it needs to replace the first-term governor and senator.
Polls have shown Stabenow with a double-digit lead over her Republican challenger, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard. But the National Republican Senatorial Committee considers her to be one of the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents.

Stabenow told the crowd that she and fellow Democrats will continue to fight for the middle class.

“We’re in a fight for a way of life and it’s a fight we’ve got to win,” Stabenow said.

The committee says she has been ineffective and is trying to make up for that by appearing with Clinton.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, a businessman from of Ada in western Michigan, has stressed the need to turn around Michigan’s struggling economy and begin adding jobs rather than continuing to lose them.

“Stabenow and Granholm have put Michigan first in every category where we want to be last,” Michigan Republican Chairman Saul Anuzis said. “We are first in unemployment, people moving out of the state, and personal bankruptcies.

Granholm points to successes such as new ethanol plants and Google Inc.’s decision to move 1,000 jobs to the Ann Arbor area.

Analysis:

This story is about a new business venture by a company called Freeload Press who sells ad space in college text books in order to provide them at low cost or no cost to students. The story frames the issue as such “Selling ad space keeps newspapers, magazines, Web sites and television either cheap or free. But so far, the model hasn’t spread to college textbooks.” Making the issue as just another natural market response to a need, the article never questions the commercialization of education. The article cites the CEO of Freeload Press and a professor who helped found the company. The quotes attributed to them all have to do with concern for the cost of college textbooks that students have to pay. The article states that the average cost for students for textbooks is now about $900 a year, according to “various studies,” even though none of the studies are cited.

There is one statement by the Freeload Press CEO Tom Doran who says ‘Current customers “are primarily business instructors, so they understand there’s a quid pro quo here. When we walk over to the social sciences and humanities, I expect there will be more push back.’” Beyond that no other critical comments are provided in the GR Press version of this AP story. There are other comments provided in the original AP story, but these are also from Doran. There is substantial concern that exists around this issue, since advertising in school curriculum and textbooks is not new in the K-12 level. Some schools have even adopted policies about advertising at any level, whether in the education materials or the school facility itself.

Story:

Textbook prices are soaring into the hundreds of dollars, but in some courses this fall, students won’t pay a dime. The catch: Their textbooks will have ads for companies including FedEx Kinko’s and Pura Vida coffee.

Selling ad space keeps newspapers, magazines, Web sites and television either cheap or free. But so far, the model hasn’t spread to college textbooks — partly for fear that faculty would consider ads undignified. The upshot is that textbooks now cost students, according to various studies, about $900 per year.

Now, a small Minnesota startup is trying to shake up the status quo in the $6 billion college textbook industry. Freeload Press will offer more than 100 titles this fall — mostly for business courses — completely free. Students, or anyone else who fills out a five-minute survey, can download a PDF file of the book, which they can store on their hard drive and print.

The model faces big obstacles. Freeload doesn’t yet have a stable of well-known textbook authors across a range of subjects, and it lacks the editorial and marketing muscle of the “Big 3” textbook publishers (Thomson, Pearson, and McGraw-Hill). Its textbooks don’t come with bells and whistles such as online study guides that bigger publishers have spent millions developing in order to lure professors — who assign textbooks and are the industry’s real customers.

St. Paul-based Freeload’s numbers are modest so far: 25,000 users have registered and 50,000 books have been downloaded, for courses at schools ranging from community colleges to the University of Michigan. But the company says it is rapidly adding titles and will have 250,000 textbooks and study aids in circulation by next year. It has also signed agreements with three small, specialty publishers to make their textbooks available the same way, and is in negotiations with others.

What Freeload has going for it is its arrival on the scene at a time when textbook publishers are under immense pressure to moderate prices. A recent government study found prices have risen at twice the rate of inflation since 1986.

A new Connecticut law requires that textbook sellers tell professors what their books will cost students, and other states are considering similar measures. Cost complaints come not just from students and parents but also teachers. A 2005 study by the National Association of College Stores Foundation found 65 percent of students don’t buy all the required course materials — which means many probably aren’t learning the material, either.

Students “are saying, ‘to heck with it, we’ll try to wing it,'” said Jack Ivancevich, a longtime University of Houston professor who helped found Freeload.

Publishers answer criticism by saying textbooks are expensive to produce, and note they are clobbered by the rapidly expanding secondary market for re-sales in bookstores and on the Internet. Publishers get nothing from those sales, so they essentially have to recoup their investment in one year’s worth of sales.

The industry also is exploring ways to use technology to cut distribution costs and prices. Thomson, for instance, is making “ichapters” of textbooks available, similar to the iTunes model for music. But so far, publishers have resisted selling ads.

A Canadian subsidiary of McGraw-Hill briefly rolled out an ad-based model, but dropped the plan last year. Susan Badger, CEO of Thomson Higher Education, said her company tested the idea with focus groups, in biology, but the professors were adamantly opposed.

Tom Doran, Freeload’s CEO, says McGraw-Hill’s experiment failed because it didn’t use the ad revenue to reduce prices enough to get students’ attention. As for faculty, Doran says he realizes not everyone will go for it.

Current customers “are primarily business instructors, so they understand there’s a quid pro quo here,” Doran said. “When we walk over to the social sciences and humanities, I expect there will be more push back.”

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

As to objections that textbooks shouldn’t have ads, Doran notes ads already appear in academic journals. He says Freeload’s ads won’t be distracting; they will be placed only at natural breaks in the material, and won’t push products like alcohol or tobacco. Schools with other concerns could customize their standards; for instance Brigham Young University, founded by Mormons, could nix ads for caffeine products.

Ultimately, whether Freeload changes the industry or fades away will likely depend on its ability to attract popular textbook authors. Fordham University professors Frank Werner and James Stoner had each written several finance textbooks for traditional publishers, but after their latest was dropped by one company following a merger, they took it to Freeload.

“I was pretty disgusted with the basic textbook model,” Werner said. Textbook authors, he says, often waste time making pointless revisions just so publishers can justify putting out new editions.

“That didn’t seem like an ethical thing to do and it seemed like a hell of a waste of time,” he said, adding there’s no need to do that with Freeload.

The professors assigned the Freeload book to their class last year and said it was a hit. The students include “lots of working-class kids trying to get through college,” Werner said. “To ask them to go to the bookstore and spend $150 is pretty wasteful.”

Shannon Langston, a rising sophomore at Georgia Tech taking classes this summer while also juggling two jobs, said she often won’t buy textbooks unless she hears from other students that it’s absolutely essential.

But when her accounting professor assigned a Freeload book, she was glad not to have to make that call — and worry that she wouldn’t be able to sell back a new book because the publisher had already rushed out a new edition.

“I definitely don’t mind ads,” she said, “if it helps with the price.”

Analysis:

This article is basically an announcement of Dick DeVos’ choice for Attorney General in his race for Governor of Michigan. The article does provide some information on Ruth Johnson, that she was a former state legislator, and worked on education reforms. There is no real assessment of her voting record while in office from 1998 to 2004, nor any mention that she was a County Commissioner prior to that. There are no opposition or independent perspectives provided, even though the state Democrats sent out their own media release on the announcement.

Story:

LANSING — Republican candidate for governor Dick DeVos today chose Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson as his running mate.

The pick provides DeVos, an Ada businessman, with gender and geographical balance on the ticket. Oakland County is filled with moderate Republicans, who the conservative DeVos must persuade if he is to win.

Johnson will be formally nominated for lieutenant governor at the Republican convention in Novi Aug. 25-26.

Johnson, 52, spent six years the state House of Representatives. She left in 2004 because of term limits.

During her time in the Legislature, Johnson spearheaded a series of reforms aimed at intermediate school districts after financial abuses at the Oakland Intermediate School District were revealed, including extensive travel and the construction of a lavish headquarters.

Gov. Granholm signed a series of laws in 2004 that required districts to make public information about travel expenses, contracts of more than $100,000 — less than $25,000 if not competitively bid — and salaries of top employees.

Analysis:

This article is based upon the possibility that the Democratic Party could take control of the State House and Senate depending on the outcome of the November 7 election. The focus is on the 75th District House seat beat Robert Dean and Tim Doyle. Both candidates are cited, but no platforms or issues are mentioned. The language that is used at the beginning is interesting in terms of how this story is framed, with comments like “battle” and “bloodier fight.” What would make this election a bloodier fight?

The only other sources that are cited is current 75th District Rep. Jerry Kooiman and former 75th District Rep. John Otterbacher. There is one other source cited, Bill Ballenger. The sentence before his comment is “More impartial observers aren’t sure a sea change is on the horizon.” Does this mean that Ballenger is a “more impartial observer?” Ballenger runs the Lansing based website/newsletter Inside Michigan Politics. Ballenger himself is a former Republican legislator.

Story:

Most West Michigan Republicans can breathe a sigh of relief following Tuesday’s primary elections, secure the battle is over in heavily GOP districts.

Tim Doyle has to take a deep breath and gird for the next, bloodier fight — and the stakes are high. At risk is a state House seat held by Republicans for decades, which Democrats believe could upset the balance of power in Lansing.
Doyle, an assistant prosecutor, is in the race to replace state Rep. Jerry Kooiman, R-Grand Rapids. Last week, he bested two contenders in a hard-fought election.

Now, he faces Democrat Robert Dean, a former Grand Rapids city commissioner and school board president. Located on Grand Rapids’ East Side, the 75th state House District has shifted toward Democrats in recent years, and the race is expected to be one of the most closely watched in the state.

“If you want to measure how each party is going to do statewide, watch that district,” said John Otterbacher, a former lawmaker and current Dean advisor.

Power in the Legislature is presently tilted toward Republicans, who have a six-seat majority in each chamber: 58-52 in the House, and 22-16 in the Senate. Democrats figure to loosen that grip.

Nine House seats are considered toss-ups in this fall’s elections. Three are open, due mostly to term limits, including the Kooiman seat.

The other six feature Republicans seeking re-election in toss-up districts, as rated by Inside Michigan Politics editor Bill Ballenger.

In the Senate, four seats are considered toss-ups. Two are open; the others are held by Republicans, including Sen. Gerald VanWoerkom, from the Muskegon area.

Given the dynamics, Democrats think this could be their year. A three-seat swing in either chamber ties it up.
More impartial observers aren’t sure a sea change is on the horizon.

“The expectation of almost every political observer is it’s going to be very difficult for the Democrats to get a majority in either (chamber),” said Ballenger. “I would be included in that assessment.”

The most likely to flip is the Senate, Ballenger said. If Democrats grab three seats, they’ve got a 19-19 tie. That makes the governor’s race critical: The lieutenant governor becomes the swing vote.

The House is less likely to go to Democratic control. But the 75th District — the Dean-Doyle match-up — has the biggest bull’s-eye.

That’s the one “on paper, the Democrats would have the best chance to win,” Ballenger said. The state House district on Grand Rapids’ West Side long has been solidly Democratic. But the East Side has a Republican heritage, at least in the past few decades.

Before Kooiman, it was held by Bill Byl, the new Republican nominee for county drain commissioner, Richard Bandstra, now a Michigan Court of Appeal judge, and Vernon Ehlers, the area’s congressman.

You have to reach back to the 1970s and early 1980s — when district lines were different — to find a Democrat on the job. That was when John Otterbacher, a young psychotherapist, held the seat.

Redistricting put the area out of reach of Democrats. But Otterbacher and others have seen the demographics shift. He pegs the change on suburban flight and discontent with President Bush.

“The president’s policies have clarified for a lot of people their party affiliation, and in some instances reclarified,” Otterbacher said.

Is Democratic control coming?

Whatever the reason, recent elections provide evidence of a Democratic tilt.

In 2004, all-but-unknown Democrat Chris Vogt put little money or effort into the race, but came within 1,800 votes of ousting Kooiman, then a two-term veteran.

That same year, Democratic challenger Brandon Dillon fell short by only 100 votes against Republican county commissioner Dan Koorndyk in a seat that falls within the House district. Dillon is taking another run at Koorndyk this year.

Even presidential votes on Grand Rapids’ East Side have shifted. U.S. Sen. John Kerry outpolled President Bush by 4,000 votes two years ago. By contrast, Vice President Al Gore lost to President Bush there in 2000. The district’s term-limited lawmaker is well aware of such figures.

“Let’s face it. It’s increasingly more Democratic. Granholm nearly won my district against West Michigan’s Dick Posthumus,” Kooiman said.

In fact, Posthumus bested Granholm in the district by a slim 600 votes in 2002.
That, in particular, is a wake-up call for Republicans and Democrats as the Dean-Doyle matchup picks up steam.
The district holds the city’s largest concentration of black voters, where Dean, who is black, could make inroads. Doyle, with an Irish Catholic background, will appeal to the Catholic neighborhoods to the north.

And on the Southeast Side, both will battle over a heavy dose of Christian Reformed voters — voters who for decades went reliably to candidates with that heritage and are now up for grabs.

Does the governor help?

Dean knows he has to appeal to the middle to win.

“I really felt as far as myself personally, I will be viewed more as a moderate and I’ll be able to pull voters from both sides, and not just Democrats,” Dean said. “I’m viewed more as a fiscal conservative.”

Doyle all but depleted the more than $100,000 he raised in the primary, and now has to start from scratch in the fund-raising game. Political action committee checks already have been pouring in. Dean will see the same largesse from Democratic-leaning causes.

Doyle knows the challenge. “The Republican Party sees the numbers, they see the district is trending Democratic,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us.”

One thing Democrats can’t count on, Ballenger said: coat tails.
In Michigan, where voters are notorious ticket-splitters, pull from the top doesn’t amount to much. Even when former Republican Gov. John Engler was winning big in the 1990s, he couldn’t create huge legislative majorities for his party.

Ballenger’s no-coat-tails rule will be especially true this year, when Granholm is in the political fight of her life, facing a hard-charging, well-funded challenge from Ada businessman Dick DeVos.

“If the Democrats were counting a year ago on Jennifer Granholm winning some landslide re-election, and that could conceivably yield some dividends down the ticket, that expectation or hope is gone,” Ballenger said.

“She’s going to be lucky to even eke out a narrow victory, and she’s certainly not going to have coat tails.”

Analysis:

What is the relevance of this article for voters? Do voters know what Bouchard’s position is on national security?

Story:

Remember US Senate candidate Mike Bouchard’s kitschy, but endearing commercial featuring his 16 year old daughter, Mikayla? The spot depicted the Oakland County sheriff sitting on the couch between Mikayla and a potential boyfriend, posing as the overprotective dad as part of his pitch on national security. At the Kent County Republican unity reception after his election win, Bouchard continued the theme. After an introduction from Mikayla, he said, “If there are any boys in the audience, forget it.” But Bouchard assured the crowd, “No boyfriends were hurt in the making of the commercial.”

Analysis:

The reason cited in the Press for job loss was because “the auto supplier’s biggest customers pulled their business.” Both General Motors and the Lear Corp. are mentioned as customers. The article also states that “MacDonald’s has plenty of company among troubled suppliers. Many face the same crunch with big domestic automakers who — under intense competition — are cutting costs wherever they can.” This statement is never verified, both in terms of what competition and cost cutting means for companies like General Motors. The only people cited in the story were a supervisor and a company spokesperson. No workers are cited in the article, but it was stated that the factory was non-union.

At the very end of the article there is mention of tax breaks given to MacDonald Industrial Products, one by the City of Kentwood worth $3.8 million and one by the City of Grand Rapids for $3.9 million. Both of these tax breaks were tied to the company needing to create more jobs. The company didn’t follow through with the Grand Rapids tax break and had to pay a fine of $300,000 and the article ends there. Why didn’t the reporter ask what the company did with the other $3.6 million if got from taxpayers that didn’t create jobs? The article also doesn’t explore what happens to tax-payer subsidies when companies shut down.

Story:

KENTWOOD — Nearly 300 employees of two MacDonald’s Industrial Products Inc. plants face the loss of their jobs in coming weeks after the auto supplier’s biggest customers pulled their business.

The announcement Saturday did not detail when layoffs at two plants in Kentwood and Grand Rapids would begin, but local workers said they were told they would be jobless in two to four weeks. The plants employ 294.

A third plant in Spencerville, Ohio, that employs 176 will shut down first.

“This day is heartbreak for all of us; we tried everything possible to avoid this,” said Robert MacDonald Jr., the founder’s son.

The family-owned company makes door handles, grilles, emblems and decorative trim.

The announcement was made after MacDonald’s biggest customers — General Motors Corp. and Lear Corp. — dropped their contracts. “We got the notice late Wednesday,” MacDonald said.

The news was shared in letters to employees this weekend. Workers felt the owners’ pain, supervisor Dennis Pearo said.

“It’s been a long decline, but it came really quick at the end,” said Pearo, noting GM and Lear made up 80 percent of the company’s business. “Even the owners were surprised. They were trying until the end.”

The nonunion supplier makes chrome-plated plastic injection-molded parts at its Grand Rapids plant on Oak Industrial Drive SE and zinc die castings at its plant and headquarters on 44th Street SE.
“Like so many other automotive suppliers, we had been putting forth our best efforts to survive,” MacDonald said, “but when General Motors and Lear decided to move their business elsewhere, we just ran out of options.”

MacDonald’s has plenty of company among troubled suppliers. Many face the same crunch with big domestic automakers who — under intense competition — are cutting costs wherever they can.

At the end of a grueling week, MacDonald said he worries most about the employees who will lose their jobs.
“Our work force is incredible,” MacDonald said. “Whoever their potential employer is, he will be getting a work force that puts their hearts and souls in what they do.

In 2004, MacDonald’s sought a Kentwood tax break to add $3.8 million in equipment and 40 to 50 jobs at its 44th Street SE die-cast plant. It planned to diversify into making appliance handles.

That same year, MacDonald’s paid Grand Rapids $300,000 after the company failed to keep a promise to invest $3.9 million in equipment and create 60 jobs at its factory at 850 Pannell St. NW. The company now uses that site for a warehouse.