Labor is so "gun shy" with the media because they've been beaten up all the time, Whitty noted. The reason why the UAW probably hasn't been more forthcoming in discussing its negotiating points is mainly due to the temperament and personality of its leaders.
Douglas Fraser, for example, was very accessible and is still a commentator on labor issues, Whitty said. But, that wasn't the "cup of tea" that the late UAW President Steve Yokich enjoyed.
"And, in all fairness, if I were sitting back there with the top leadership of any union, half the time, the reporter is looking to take a hit on the union; looking for something that causes the union a problem and looking to giving the union a black eye. So, they bob and weave and duck," the professor said.
For example, the themes for stories that appeared in Detroit's papers over the Labor Day holiday were either that "labor is dead or dying" or that the unorganized foreign transplant factories in the southern United States "are going to eat labor's lunch," Whitty said.
"You can't shake the reporter loose from that assumption in the story line," he added.