Steve Wilson WXYZ Detroit

When you have any solid information that is the case, I hope you'll post it or send it privately here.

Thanks for the kind words, Guard dog. As I said on Drew & Mike the other day, it's never nice to gloat and it seemed like anythig I'd say would be taken that way by Ford and some of you folks here, too. I would like to say this, though: When the story broke, many said, "Why bother? What's wrong with you? This is the way things are at Ford and in general. Nothing will ever happen to change it." And I said nothing ever DOES happen until the facts are known. I said I've always believed people knowing the truth, more often than not, ultimately leads to changes. (Sometimes they're even changes for the BETTER <grin>) Anyway, my point here is never give up on speaking up. Yes, sometimes it's painful (as I've learned in my life) but I always like to remember the words of Margaret Mead: Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Your post is so full of sh*^, T-man, it could fertilize the entire back 40. Could it just be possible that Ford's troubles, in general, are due to the fact that expectations of people like Fields are too low to allow Ford to excel in an increasingly competitive industry? Just askin. Tex Baxter? Oh come on man, can't you do better than cheap-shot personal attacks? We all note that you have yet to point out a single error of fact in my reporting...and not asked a legitimate, serious question of me as you have so often said you want to do. Heck, at one point, you even claimed I wanted to debate you and that only failed to come about because I'm just not up to your giant intellect. Right. And your assessment of the Metro Detroit viewer as generally stupid only belies your own ignorance. If you're so hot, why are you, by your own admission, an overpaid sweeper? Was that always your goal in life? Finally, as for playing with the big boys and basing my reporting on flawed logic...Gee, I've been playing with "the big boys" more than 30 years now at jerkwater outltes like CBS New York and ABC in California. Maybe I should have gone into acting since, in your estimation, I've just well covered up my fraud in journalism all this time? Look, Pal, I've said before and I say again: I am far from perfect and certainly not above honest criticism. Yours, however, is neither honest nor grounded in anything other than your own mind where Detroiters are stupid and anybody with an opposing view is a fraud. With all due respect, Sir, get over yourself! As Bill O'Reilly likes to say (yet seldom does): I'll give you the last word.

Okay, one at a time: <<Ford workers are being told over and over that there's penty of sacrifice needed to turn our company around. I'd like to know if this pain is really being shared up and down and all across the board like we're told it is.>> I think you're reading this way too literally. If I'd meant to pose as a member of the "Ford worker family"--which, BTW, would not be unethical, IMHO--I could have done so far more clearly than I did. Saying ""turn our company around" referred to exactly what Ford execs have been saying for some time. It might have been clearer for me to put "turn our company around" in the quotes I intended to convey, not that I intended to say it was my company, too. The same is true of my saying "like we're told it is." We're told refers to not only Ford employees but outsiders, too. Again, no intention to try and fool anybody into thinking I'm working on a line or in a Ford exec office somewhere.

Huh? Why? Why, what? (Maybe you're right...you ARE just too smart for me--and most of the others, too?) Can you phrase a complete english sentance for me, there, T-man?

Relax. Take a deep breath. Nobody did me in or shut me up. I'm right here. Reading. And watching. Did you ever come up with a specific question, or just still want to gripe?

I just love it when people like my friend Trimdingman start spewing that crap about most/all media being left tilting. WHICH media, T-man? Certainly you don't know a THING about my political or social leanings, yet you put me on the far left, apparently just based on the same logic you use to draw some of your other conclusions. We don't sit around and talk politics very much but I can tell you this: just in MY newsroom, there is a wide range of political thought. It goes from some of the most right wing to left, as well. But I can tell you NONE of the journalists I work with--here or previously--deliberately set out to point a story in the political direction they prefer. Yeah, plenty of far leftists in the media. Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly, Mark Hyman on Sinclair stations around the country, Sean Hannity, The Wall Street Journal, shall I continue???? And BTW, what ever happened to the specific QUESTIONS you had in criticizing my reporting--or a single example of inaccuracy in the Ford reports? Wasn't it you T-man who said you were busy but would get back? I'm here. I'm waiting.

As Tags pointed out, by the time I started at Channel 7, Frank had self-destructed, found Jesus and the forgiveness of the management here, and was back working entirely clean. At the risk of opening a whole other can of worms, here's how "fair and balanced" I am, fishin' guy: At the last station where I worked, I was asked to deliberately lie to viewers by reporting what I knew and documented to be information that was false. My employer wanted to keep the advertisers happy and avoid the possible cost of defending the truth in court--always an expensive proposition these days, even when you're 100% accurate and on the side of the angels. Anyway, my reporting partner and I refused. We turned down a load of hush money to shut up and go away. We were fired. We filed a whistleblower lawsuit. Ultimately, a jury agreed the story we were pressured to broadcast (and fired after we refused) was indeed, "false, distorted, or slanted" and awarded more than $400,000. An appeals court ultimately overturned the jury's finding and its award. After being turned down six times by three different judges, the defendant ultimately prevailed with this scary argument: Because the First Amendment is SO strong, it covers even broadcasters who may choose to air lies and distortions on their newscasts. When the station's license came up for renewal, we filed a challenge which has kept that license from being renewed as the FCC investigation continues. Am I really in it for public knowledge, you ask? Well, I didn't give in to demands to use the public airwaves to lie. I didn't cash in when I was offered a pile of money to simply shut up and never talk about the story again. And my reporting partner and I spent virtually our entire life savings to stand up for what we both believed was right--a particular hardship since the two of us were married to each other. As I say, the jury saw the truth. The FCC must see SOMETHING here to keep the investigation going and the license renewal on hold. And here's the kicker: What kind of broadcaster pressures its own journalists to lie and then fires them when they refuse and threaten to blow the whistle to the FCC and the public at large? The ones who call themsleves "fair and balanced," of course! Am *I* "fair and balanced?" Lets just say "I report. You decide."

Hey J, why don't you take a deep breath and drop the personal attacks...I'm here, I'm answering all sorts of questions, but, hey, a little mutual respect, eh? Can't you disagree without being disagreeable?

Gawd, have I done such a poor job making this clear, or are there just some blinded by loyalty, or something else, that just totally blocks their view of reality? What I exposed: Executives of a corporation in serious trouble--some say on the verge of bankruotcy--asking workers for givebacks and extreme sacrifice on the promise that EVERYBODY is going to share the sacrifice, top to bottom. Instead, they accept the givebacks and quietly fail to keep their promise that it will no longer be "business as usual." Is it enough to save Ford? Of course not! Given the billions the company is losing, it may well be a drop in the bucket. But it is also powerful symbolism and perhaps a guage of the credidibility of management who believes it isn't terribly important whether or not they actually do what they say. How they respond when asked--especially if THEY believe they are doing nothing at all improper--might be another indication of something, or not. Look, for one last time, I'm not on any crusade here other than to simply report what you'd never hear from the Ford p-r team. How you value or use that information, if at all, is entirely up to you. If what they've been found doing (while saying the opposite) means nothing to you because they're somehow "entitled," then fine...and I fully respect your view in this regard. My job is to find the truth and tell it as accurately and fair as I can. On the other hand, if you're asked for more givebacks based on more promises--and Ford has said more givebacks will be requested in the near future--knowing the level of credibility of those doing the asking might be something that could help guide you the next time you or your union asks you to sacrifice just a little more.

In fairness to Mark, this weekend is not the first time we've seen him in a smaller Falcon. I don't think we can conclude anything but that, regardless of which aircraft he picks for the fleet, he still intends to execisr his contractual right to head south for the weekends. What will be more telling...will he continue with those statement's like "belt tightening across the board, absoluetly" and "definitely, we're ALL sharing the sacrifice" statements you've been hearing from him in the past.

Ford has refused to say. It is required to disclose this information in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission--but only when free flights for purely personal reasons reach a certain threshold. even then, others could fly below the radar if the company uses a formula to value at a cost less than they actually are. Ford has also refused to disclose exactly HOW the flights are valued...but under whatever secret forumula it is using, only Ford's and Fields' flights have been disclosed.

Yeah, I remember. And I thought you couldn't possibly lower the quality of the discourse of people trying to have a civil discussion here. Not surprisingly, you've proved me wrong. Are in in fifth or sixth grade?