OPINION
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The Michigan Daily
Saturday, June 11, 1983
The Michigan Daily Sinclair
Vol. XCIII, No. 15-S
93 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by students of
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board
Rather deceivig
CST7
HE AMERICAN public got a rare chance
to look behind the scenes of television news
this week when CBS was forced to defend its
number-one television program, "60 Minutes"
before the nation.
A suit filed by Dr. Carl Galloway charged
CBS with reckless disregard of the truth in an
investigation of medical insurance fraud en-
titled, "It's no Accident". CBS vehemently f 00f
denied the chnae and follnwinu a mueh
publicized case, which included testimony by
star anchorman and former "60 Minutes" host,
Dan Rather, CBS was absolved of the libel
charges brought by the good doctor.
While the outcome of the case was relatively
unimportant, (CBS has never lost a case in the
150 brought against "60 Minutes") the suit
revealed some of the "tricks of the trade" used
to make T.V. news a smooth and professional
presentation.
For the first time outtakes from the top-rated
show were made public. They showed a darker
side to both Rather and the weekly program.
Among the criticisms leveled against CBS was
their use or abuse of interviews. Galloway's at-
torneys contended that through drilling
questions, those interviewed for the story were
badgered into giving acceptable answers. CBS
claims that such techniques are necessary to
make the news visually interesting.
The suit has stunned many viewers of
television news and has called into question the I
reputations of broadcast journalists, in the past
among America's most trusted people. Shortly
before his retirement former CBS anchorman,
Walter Cronkite was judged the most trusted
man in America in a nationwide poll.
In the process of re-evaluating how much of
television is acting and how much is real,
people are discovering that too often "seeing"
does not necessitate "believing".
Of all forms of news media, television is the
most widely used and easily believed - after
all "pictures don't lie." Until the recent CBS
case, television news has been spared from the
scathing charges of inaccuracy and sen-
sationalism print journalism has often
received. The Rather case demonstrates that,
like all forms of news media, television is also
capable of distortion of the facts and outright
deception.
Galloway's lawsuit will hopefully stimulate a
critical reassessment of what is truth on
television news and what is merely
whitewashed fiction.'
Union causes Apex buyout
By Jim Dworman
It's easy to understand why
Detroit is one of the nation's
biggest union towns. Many of the
city's residents belong to the
United Auto Workers and owe
much of their financial well-being
to that organization. Persons who
don't belong usually know
someone who does.
To many Detroiters, the union
can do no wrong. Crossing a
picket line is strictly taboo.
Always stand behind your
brothers, they say.
Unfortunately, this means sup-
porting the United Food and
Commercial Workers (UFCW)
Local 876 in its crusade against
Apex Drugs. Union members -
former Cunningham's Drugs
employees who were not hired by
Apex when it bought 29 Cun-
ningham's outlets in Michigan
(four in Ann Arbor) - accuse
Apex of using, among other
things, discriminatory hiring
practices. The union claimsApex
did not give its members a fair
chance to apply for jobs.
Perhaps Apex didn't. The com-
pany advertised for applicants
and interviewed them about a
week before a Cunningham's
store would close. Cunningham's
generally notified its employees
of the sale about two days before
shutting its doors. The National
Labor Relations Board thinks the
two durgstore chains might pur-
posely have arranged this timing.
Under no circumstances,
however, should union members
blame their predicament on this
sequence of events. Local 876 is
picketing instead of working
because it was out of touch with
reality during the waning days of
its Cunningham's employment.
Local 876 refused to engage in
contract concessions talks with
Cunningham's, forcing the
chain's sale and the loss of union
jobs.
Under the union contract, Cun-
ningham's paid its clerks $6.17 an
hour, plus the equivalent of $1.50
an hour in fringe benefits. Since
most other Detroit-area
drugstores were not unionized
and paid workers close to
minimum wage, Cunningham's
found itself at a severe com-
petitive disadvantage. In order to
offset approximately $4.00 per
man-hour in additional labor ex-
penses, the retailer raised prices
and cut back on labor.
Consequently, customers drif-
ted away from the overpriced
and understaffed stores. Cun-
ningham's could not survive un-
der those conditions.
The weakening chain then
asked the UFCW to negotiate
concessions.
The union said no. Evidently, it
didn't understand the economic
conditions of the drugstore
market. Maybe its members
didn't notice the lack of customer
traffic at Cunningham's. Maybe
they didn't realize its im-
plications.
One thing is certain - they ac-
ted in haste. Had the UFCW even
listened to concessions proposals,
Cunningham's might have sur-
vived and union jobs might have
been saved. The never-proposed
concessions surely would have
been more acceptable than
firings. In fact, they probably
wouldshave left Cunningham's
workers better off than the
present Apex workers, who earn
$3.57 an hour. No company would
ask employees to take a 50-
percent cut in wages.
Even if it did, what's wrong
with $3.35 an hour?bSure it's a
plunge from $6.17, but tell the
50,000 persons who applied for the
State of Michigan's Youth Corps
that you won't work for less than
$6.17 and in minutes they'll be
lining up to apply for your job.
Working in a drugstore in-
volves little skill. If UFCW mem-
bers think they deserve more
than $3.57 an hour for working in
an air-conditioned drugstore,
they should try flipping ham-
burgers over a steaming grill at
Wendy's. They'd quickly learn
the value and desireability of
their jobs.
I know. I had one of them.
Dworman is a Daily editor and
former sales clerk at Apex
Drugs.
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Unsigned editorials appearing on the left side
of this page represent a majority opinion of the
Daily's Editorial Board. Letters and columns
represent the opinions of the individual author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or
beliefs of the Daily.
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