GM: "We're Not Thin-Skinned"

When GM cancelled its ad contract with the LATimes, many praised them for setting the wrong-thinkers at the LAT straight. Cheat-Seeking Missiles was not one of them. Based on Dan Neil's column on GM personnel and the new Pontiac G6, I saw little GM could complain about. It seemed like a reasonable enough analysis of GM's recent performance.

As much as I like seeing LAT being stung because of its editorial stupidity, this isn't such a case. If there were errors in Neil's piece, they are minor quibbles and his point is valid: GM is building bad cars, is missing the market, and can't get its act together. Newspapers shouldn't be afraid to write such stuff, and corporations should be more thick-skinned than GM has been.

Now Gary Grates, GM's top PR guy, writes in GM's blog that thin skin has nothing to do with it. Without saying what GM's specific gripes with the LAT are, he makes it clear that GM felt justified cutting the LAT, and that it will comment specifically if the LAT's current internal review does not satisfy their concerns (h/t Okie on the LAM):

We knew going into this that our action would be portrayed negatively. GM has been attacked relentlessly in the past week as being “thin skinned.” But think about that for a moment: GM has been particularly “newsworthy” in the last month. During that time, many have weighed in on our challenges and our products, and by any measure, much of the commentary has been negative. If ceasing our advertising in the Los Angeles Times were simply a symptom of our alleged “thin skin,” then why focus solely on the Times, a newspaper that covers GM and Detroit minimally? ...

But neither do we think that any business should remain mute when it sincerely believes it has been treated unfairly or attacked by reporting that is unsupported by facts and unrelated to reality. It is extremely rare that we take the kind of action we did with the Times, but it is fully within our right to spend our advertising dollars where we see fit.

So maybe there's more here than meets the eye. Personally, I hope the LAT ombudsman does a Rathergate-esque job of reviewing the paper's performance, and GM rips 'em publicly with well documented bad reporting. That'll be a fun read!