Al-jazeera has shown kidnapper videos, but technically not shown the actual beheading. Other networks are also guilty of this and I think it is a shame. However, regardless of showing beheadings or not, al-jazeera (arabic) does air a lot of terrorist propaganda. I only mention this because it seems many are assuming Bob turned down the interview because al-jazeera "sounded middle-eastern". Maybe al-jazeera english is a reputable network (I have no knowledge) and independent from al-jazeera arabic, but if that's the case then you can hardly blame someone for thinking al-jazeera (english) would be the same as al-jazeera (arabic).

As someone who works for an international news broadcaster that shall remain nameless, as I'm writing in a personal capacity, I wonder how it would be if journalists made such knee jerk decisions relating to their car purchases?

Wouldn't it be illogical and nonsensical if I said: Ooh, Saab (Swedish GM subsidiary) that's a funny foreign name; I don't think General Motors or its subsidiaries are companies I necessarily want to buy my cars from.

Isn't it a good job some customers research the facts, look into vehicle safety records and fuel consumption and engine performance and reliability and don't make knee jerk decisions on the basis of the car company or vehicle name?

I drive a Saab (a GM subsidiary) and I *heart* my Saab and rave about it and recommend them to anyone and everyone who will listen. And I have journalist and technical operations colleagues who drive GMC SUVs, Cadillacs and Hummers (all GM brands/subsidiaries).

In some respects, whether or not GM's woes are a worldwide news story is irrelevant, of more importance to the people of Janesville, and GM, is the fact that GM is selling its products to a global market.

Potential and actual customers are everywhere, including among news broadcaster staff members and their millions of viewers around the world, and one would have thought that in such difficult times it wouldn't be wise to alienate any of them.

Despite that, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a Saab to anyone, on the basis of my experiences of its performance and reliability and excellent customer service at the showroom, and will probably buy one again myself, when the time comes. I know it doesn't necessarily particularly help any individual auto-workers in Janesville, given I'm not quite sure where all the components of my car are made, but I intend to continue making decisions about my car-buying on the basis of facts and logic.

I have to correct this:

Unidentified said: "Al Jazeera... weren't they the ones broad casting be-headings?"

This is not true. Al Jazeera has never broadcast any beheadings.

This urban myth should get an entry in Snopes, it gets repeated so often. But it absolutely, categorically is not true.

Since I am the one who quoted Mr. Borremans, allow me to weigh in: It's a huge, complicated world out there, and it's difficult if not impossible to keep up with everything. Bob is knowlegable about his job, but I doubt he has had much experience dealing with national news media, much less foreign news media, so I think he deserves a break. He certainly would have taken a lot of heat for granting an interview with Al Jazeera. He was bound to get slammed no matter what he decided. I think he shows a willingness to learn, however, and I don't think he has any built-in prejudice against the Middle East. I credit him for being totally up front about it, instead of hiding the facts, as a lot of other executives around here would have done (and who do on a regular basis, to cover their political posteriors). With any luck, our community leaders read the story and your comments and learned something.

It's difficult to recognize bias when it's part of your frame of reference. I have friends in Europe who tell me they are amazed that Americans can't identify the propaganda put out by CNN (their words). In the U.S., we tend to think that propaganda is something used by Communist countries and it obviously couldn't be used here because of all our "freedoms." Not everyone can travel to see other worlds for themselves, but the next best thing is reading what comes out of other countries then making your own decisions. For really interesting reading, you can even use free web site translators like babelfish.altavista.com and read the foreign language press.

See for Yourselves.

http://english.aljazeera.net/

And then decide.
I'm not condoning either view, just want people to look for themselves.

The out of town journalists usually find some drunks at Zachow's bar to talk to. They then make it sound like they represent the whole work force or community. I can just hear the stories now!

Right on Snerdley!
On another note. The Swede said he could empathize. Well,yes he can being from a socialist nation like this one is becoming where big business is the enemy and jobs leave the shores to countries that want them.

Hmm, I pasted the wrong deep link. I meant to post this: http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/Reference...
.
It seems Mr. Borremans is an expert on the employment situation in southern Wisconsin. Imagine the difference in this story if writer Frank Schultz would have omitted the part about dissing Al Jazeera.

Maybe I was too harsh. The man seems to otherwise have his act together. http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Borremans...

When I first read Mr. Borremans’ comments about Al Jazeera, I too was embarrassed for Janesville. I’m glad so many other readers picked up on the same thing.
.
“I didn’t think Al Jazeera was somebody we necessarily wanted to be interviewed by and broadcast over there.” Notwithstanding his tortured sentence that may have been transcribed incorrectly, you can still almost see his thought process.
.
“Al Jazeera. Sounds foreign, probably Middle Eastern. Must be associated with Islamic terrorists. The first word is the same as the first word in Al Qaeda, so they’re probably all somehow related to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. (Hah! At least that Saddam guy won’t attack the U.S again!) We surely don’t want Islamic militants in Janesville, so I’d better not do the interview.”
.
Mr. Borremans seems well-meaning but misguided. I hope this story dies quickly and doesn't find its way into the national news as an example of small town xenophobia. I’m amazed that he apparently has earned his Ph.D. (http://www.swwdb.org/News%20Release%20on...)

Everyone on here needs to write our government and let them know we are pi--ed off at how things are a changin and not for the better!Billions for the financial industry and I have never seen a plan from them. Wheres their plan!!!!! Do they plan on putting it back in my 401k!!!!Can anyone her tell me their plan. You know, a business plan with checks and balances!!! Even these journalists had a plan when they came to our city. Seek out some intelligent people and ask questions. Some people refuse. He was misinformed and I think he regrets it. But we will get no regret / remorse from our treasury secretary for squandering our billions. In fact hes thinking up ways to give away more in his sleep. Lets give them the AMERO coin and call it money . IDIOTS

Continued: In Berlin, American Jeffrey Gedmin, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has spent a lot of his time busting the stereotypes of Americans pushed by the German media. Gedmin said, "The intuitive stories are fat children, fast food, death penalty, no culture, Guantanamo. Current topics? Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Guantanamo, Guantanamo, Guantanamo." Gedmin said, "I had Germans actually ask me, 'Does everyone carry an M-16 around with them in the United States?' And they were absolutely serious. And that's when I began to wonder, 'What's going on here? Where are they getting these crazy ideas?'German citizen Karen Quade became so upset by anti-Americanism, she began her own Web site to fight it.
She said, "It is very difficult to get positive information about the U.S. because the mainstream media doesn't spread it. You have to read the pro-American blogs. You have to read the Internet." "It's difficult to have a conversation without having the anti-American topics on the table," Quade said. "Even the weather. George W. Bush is to blame for global warming."
University of Michigan professor Andrei Markovits, the author of Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America, says that for the first time, anti-Americanism, which has always existed on the fringes of Europe, has entered the mainstream. Markovits says it's created a market for anti-American news. "I was just at a talk where a very imminent German journalist of a German newspaper -- I don't want to mention the name -- said my guys back at headquarters really want bad stuff. This is what really sells," Markovits said. The U.S. helped liberate Europe, spent great sums to defend it during the Cold War, and defends it today. So, why the hatred? Markovits say it's about more than Iraq or Bush. "It's not so much what America does, but what America is," Markovits explained. "There is a real disdain for what America and Americans are. To the anti-American European, America is something inauthentic. This is crucial. It doesn't have tradition, it doesn't have values, it doesn't have depth, it doesn't have roots. By the way, this goes way back into the 19th century, that America is kind of this fleeting, superficial, commercial glitter

Polls clearly show that Europeans have turned against America in increasing numbers. But it's also true that Europeans have been fed a steady diet of media distortions about America for years. If you got your news about the United States only from the European media, chances are good you wouldn't like the United States either. There are a lot of reasons for the anti-American coverage in the media here, but you can start with the journalists themselves. They're mostly liberal and they're on a mission. America gets a journalistic thumping just about every day in Europe. It's a one-way media war that our government has shown little or no interest in fighting seriously, even though it has severely damaged America's image and influence. One of the biggest bashers of America is the British Broadcasting Corporation. Outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted that the "BBC is full of hatred for America." A documentary on the German TV program Panorama suggests the U.S. military is filled with dangerous criminals; it's regular fare for Germans these days. Meanwhile, polls reflect the coverage, showing most Brits now have a negative view of America, and that a majority of Germans think the U.S. is more dangerous than Iran. It's become so bad that a British conservative group has produced a commercial to remind the world that it really does need America.

Well hopefully GM's media day will help get the news people were interested in. Although I agree the overall anti-GM comments aren't helpful in drawing new businesses, I'm hard pressed to believe one person denying Al Jazeera English an interview is worth such criticism. There are other sources of information, which I'm sure Al Jazeera will pursue if they want the story bad enough.

ledzep77 - use your E-edition function. That way you won't get so worked up about your paper timing.

My first thought too... Instead of informing himself and possibly giving a great interview, Boremann's ignorance came shining thru. Just because something sounds"foreign" doesn't mean it is a bad thing. makes you wonder why people in other countries think we are not so smart here in the USA.

I'll start singing if that means that all this gm drama will end... let me know what song.

Just remember it aint over untill the fa- lady sings,no singing yet!!

Not to get people excited,but just maybe these foreigners are scoping out the plant to bring a product here,whoopie!!!

totellthetruth
What? Those statements do not even go together. What has happened here is not a secret. Stop trying to control how we look. First, we do not all look the same. We is not all inclusive. We are what we allowed ourselves to be, or what we made of ourselves. Hiding it, will not fill the plant. Covering it up will not feed the jobless. Presenting it for what it is may be a chance for us to market what we have reather than what we had. Can you prove what Al-Jazeera wanted to run the story for, the angle they would take, the subject they were specifically interested in, how they conveyed the message, or how their audiance would receive it? Since you answer is a resounding NO, why not be a bit more optimistic.

beachsexton - thank you for saying exactly what ran through my mind as I read this article. What an embarrassment to the city of Janesville.

Al Jazeera... weren't they the ones broad casting be-headings? Basically this is a nothing story here. Here is the summary:

"Foreign news organizations (questionable ones at that) are using Janesville as an example of America's failing economy" the end.

The only good that is comming out of this are the minor tourism dollars gained as people watch our collapse.

Al Jazeera is a legitimate award-winning global news service independently run within the Emirate of Qatar, which is a Western-allied Persian Gulf country. Most of the original staff worked at a Middle East branch of the BBC that was closed for cost reasons. They are widely regarded as broadcasting the broadest spectrum of opinion in the region, often regardless of what governments think.
.
I don't think it makes a difference to the plant or Janesville all that much, but there was no reason to turn down an interview, unless you were seriously misinformed. At least Borremans admits that.
.
And since prices are down, this actually is a good time to buy real estate if you have the money. Buy low, sell high, remember?

"throwing hundreds out of work." That probably should have read "throwing thousands out of work."

As for Al Jazeera, I guess their reputability is in the eye of the beholder. I wouldn't want to cooperate with them, but then again I'm not a spokesperson.

“I didn’t think Al Jazeera was somebody we necessarily wanted to be interviewed by and broadcast over there,” Borremans said.

With comments like this we wonder why we are losing jobs. Al Jazeera is one of the worlds leading news companies shown all around the world. Great choice for a spokesperson.

Great response, beachsexton!

The local Janesville economy is a perfect example of what has been happening all over the United States for years - the loss of middle class jobs. What's next? No more middle class. The rest of the world is coming to view the United States as a "third world country". A country where millions have no health insurance. A country where millions live below the poverty line. A country looking more and more every day like it did during the Great Depression. No one will have any money to buy anything with. What's next? Soup Kitchens, extreme poverty, social unrest, lawlessness, looting, rioting . . . The times they are a changin'

beachsexton, I thought the same thing. My jaw dropped when I read "Borremans said he turned down a request from Al Jazeera English,...“I didn’t think Al Jazeera was somebody we necessarily wanted to be interviewed by...."
It fits in the same mindset as, for example, "head of New Mexico Republican women's group calling Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama a "Muslim socialist" and stating that "Muslims are our enemies."

I am embarrassed. Very embarrassed.

astenson2001 Well stated. Seriously some of the intelligent people who post on this blog should run for office. We need a "quote working man or woman" with some common sense holding seats in our local government. A child museum, bike tunnel, are not going to create jobs in this town these will not attract people to move here(Hey I’m going to work at the child museum and buy a 165k house) What would work is seeking out business that are looking to expand and say hey if you build your business or factory, hospital, School or whatever we will make it worth your while. I think in order to be elected to the city conceal you need to understand basic economics micro and macro. It if any of these figure heads on the CC understood basic economics they would be making the choices they are. They are basically playing a real life SimCity only we are going to pay for their bad choices. Remember that when you vote. Me I am going to start buying up as much property as I can now. The market will turn around which it always has. The thing in economic is when there becomes a void in a local economy there will normally something to fill it. Things are different here were dealing with a global economic which is suffering cause housing bubble and high fuel prices. I have hope for Janesville, but I feel we need Obama politics in Janesville to see a real change

Thanks to the pre-conceived ignorance of Bob Borremans, Executive Director of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, Al-Jazeera was rejected for an interview. Al-Jazeera, a CNN-like news channel that tells the world the other side of our story. Al-Jazeera, a respected news channel that chooses to air alternative views of a story for a more complete picture of what is taking place in the world. Al-Jazeera, a company broadcasting news to the entire world, but originating in, and catering to the richest area in the world. The board of directors for the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development should consider electing a spokesperson, or a new Exec. Director. The ill-informed, quick to speak Borremans just cost this area some needed attention. In fact, he may have cost this area a minute in the marketing spotlight. Like the story reads, it is not everyday Janesville makes the news. Now, when there are thousands of able-bodied workers, vacant plants, prime shipping and distribution centers, and a supporting economy looking for an investment we have Borremans turning down the chance to deliver this message. He blew the chance to speak to wealthy, innovative, and very intelligent people that could have considered this area prime for investment. Instead, they are rejected based on, well, we all know what it was based on. Sad, quite sad.

Funny. We can barely get our own local news sources, local and nationwide, to pay attention to the plight that Janesville is suffering however foreign entities seem to be extremely interested. Maybe we can all start applying for assistance from the foreign countries who seem to care since Rock County and Janesville say their funds are gone for the year, yet they can seem to find money to try and construct a children's museum and revamp the downtown and pay contractors to oversee traffic issues, etc.

If the government bails them out with our tax money all I have to say is "Dude, Where's my FREE car?"

Ya, great time to buy houses according to realtors. What about the vehicles? I don't see GM doing anything special at all with regards to their vehicle sales considering the hole they're in. I have to laugh. They should be giving them away.

If this is a great time to buy, according to realtors, maybe some of these foreign workers will buy houses and help the local economy!