...And Here, Darn it, Are The Heartbreakers

Final Compilations/Analysis by ANN Editor-In-Chief/Corporate Insomniac, Jim Campbell

It is both the most "fun," and most difficult task, facing the ANN staff at the end of every year -- determining who, or what, did the most to promote the cause of aviation in the past 365 days... while also chastising those people or entities that did all they could to undermine the many successes the aerospace community has managed to accomplish.
 
Alas, 2009 saw more than its fair share of downers, aviation-wise. Sure, "stuff" happens... but a few folks, issues, or entities seemed to go out of their way to create problems for the world of aviation.

So... it is ANN's annual obligation to recognize Ten of our Aero-Heartbreakers for 2009... in something of an informal order, starting from the 10th to the 1st.

Let us know what you think of our selections... whom YOU would have liked be included, or omitted, from such a list. In the meantime, we hope those who had something to do with this year's selections think a little more positively about the welfare of this industry, so that future lists become harder and harder to catalog.

Be it ignorance, arrogance or just plain incompetence, these were the folks or topics that made our lot a whole lot more difficult and immeasurably injured the aviation world in the past year.

Shame on those issues, folks, or groups that made our lot so much tougher in 2009...

Aero-Heartbreakers #8: USA Today and Anti-GA Media Bias

2009 was a hell of a year in terms of watching GA and BizAv interests get pummeled by ignorance, myopic behavior, and what appears to be directed attacks inspired by ATA and Jim May's seeming guidance to hinder GA at any cost. The attacks upon General Aviation -- lead by articles like that we saw in USA Today and a number of other papers that picked up the story, are poorly researched and often based on faulty or errant information. Worse, they seem to be blatantly conducted with minimal or no consult with authorities from the GA sphere. It's not that GA deserves positive press all the time, it's just that we feel that folks who have little or no true knowledge of the industry owe it to themselves, if not the American public, to get their facts straight -- and to avoid the entanglements that occur when they seem to be listening to sources with an ax to grind.

There is little doubt that an organized and negative attack on GA and BizAv has been conducted by ATA under the direction of ATA President Jim May -- and has inspired many of the articles we've seen. But good journalism doesn't mean parroting the guy who buys all the big ads, good journalism means getting both sides of the story, good journalism means looking at the overall effect/balance of your story and making sure that one you not only have your facts straight, but you properly targeted the right bozos and validated the proper heroes.

ATA President James May

We were tremendously disappointed by the foolish (even dumb) USA Today style of journalism that we saw so often in 2009. We were even more disappointed when we attempted to get corrections or deal with the people behind these stories -- and that we not only got a deaf ear but we could barely get our calls returned. It was, succinctly, a situation in which a mindset of "don't bother me with the facts, my mind is made up" seemed to be in play. It was disheartening, at times sickening, and tremendously frustrating (especially to those of us who work so damned hard to get the story straight even when the results are not to our liking).

Honesty is a black-and-white concept -- and you are or you aren't -- and more than anything else, we saw the USA Today phenomenon of 2009 to be a dishonest and disheartening portrayal of an industry, its needs, its values, and its true nature.

Shame on them.

FMI: Comments/Criticism?