Framing: Obama and the Auto Industry

I chose to look at how Obama is handling the auto crisis with General Motors (GM) and Chrysler. My main stream news source was the Denver Post. The title itself, “Obama puts Chrysler, GM on short leash”, on the Denver Post article tells you exactly how the article is going to go. From the title alone you get the feeling that the author is looking at the situation as having too much government control and throughout the article this really comes across. The opening sentence pretty much says it all, “President Barack Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry today…”. Later, the author goes on to say that the auto industry is being added to the list of other big corporations that are now under more government control then they have ever been. Overall, I believe the author is putting the administration in a extremely negative light through his criticism of the amount of large corporations that are now, at least partially, run by the government and through the quotes he uses including some by locals in Michigan and the financial secretary for the United Auto Workers. Of course those living in one of the hardest hit areas or those who work in the auto industry would be upset and that’s understandable, however the author doesn’t really show the other side to the story. Even quotes by President Obama himself are quoted in a satirical voice. Being one of the 50 most circulated news papers in the country, the Post should do a better job of showing both sides of the story.


My choice for an alternative media source was Politico online. The Politico article differed substantially from the Denver Post article. They authors were much more objective and talked about all sides of the story including quotes from the President and from those who oppose Obama’s plans. They start off by describing what GM and Chrysler have to do to receive additional bailout money and how long they have to do it. Then they go into what Obama has said about the two companies including that he is optimistic that GM will be able to get out of the hole they are in while he isn’t so sure about Chrysler’s ability to do this. Obama admits that auto industry leadership isn’t the only one to blame in this auto crisis; it is also the fault of those in leadership positions in Washington. They also discuss the fact that Michigan lawmakers don’t feel as though Obama’s plan isn’t enough and how the Governor feels that GM’s CEO was “made into a sacrificial lamb”. Politico also includes a video of Obama talking about the problems in the auto industry which really shows you just how serious this problem is.


While the Denver Post article seems to doubt Obama’s ability to do anything more than control industries that have never been under government control before, Politico online seems to just want to state the facts and be fair to all parties. The articles have many of the same quotes posed in very different ways.