Media bias against light truck owners

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gfh77665

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I live in south TX, which is pretty conservative. There are probably more PU's on the road than cars, since it is rural and the oil & gas, construction, and farming industries are the main employers.

Our media, though, is another matter. Many times we get imported news reporters from the north, or east or west coastal locations, and they seem to at times, resent trucks when reporting.

Their stories often have pictures of wrecks with them. If the driver of a pickup truck HAPPENS to be at fault, they eagerly proclaim: The PICKUP TRUCK DRIVER did such and such. When a small car or minivan is at fault, they say The driver of the first VEHICLE did such and such...

I had the opportunity to politely ask one of these reporters about this, and he got real defensive and terse, and was not able to give a coherent answer. Latent "bubba bashing" at its finest, IMO.
 
Well, there is a "change the world" attitude that is quite prevalent among journalists and reporters today. And their perception of how the world should be changed is largely shaped by their college professors, many (and probably most) of whom subscribe to a socialist outlook on life and politics. And many of these reporters and journalists have contempt for the southern states in general, because of the conservative values that are sometimes illustrated by things like pickup trucks and firearms. These are also associated, in their minds, with racism and rednecks. Honestly though, over the years I've seen less racism here than I did in Ohio and Pennsylvania growing up. Now about rednecks, well, that might be a different story! :-)

I'm a transplant to the South (having grown up in Ohio) and I have come to greatly respect and partake of many of the traditions and values of this area. There are few that I have not partaken of (such as moonshine and being a SEC football fan, although the latter might change if one or more of my kids go to a SEC school for college), but nonetheless there is a lot to respect in Southern culture, and cuisine! So yes, I like pickup trucks and have discovered that they are extremely useful vehicles. I just wish they weren't so doggone expensive!
 
I'm supposed to believe your local news biases are the fault of other areas of the country? Your governor is out in other states courting them to move their businesses to TX; you can't have it both ways.
 
Originally Posted By: raffy
Well, there is a "change the world" attitude that is quite prevalent among journalists and reporters today. And their perception of how the world should be changed is largely shaped by their college professors, many (and probably most) of whom subscribe to a socialist outlook on life and politics. And many of these reporters and journalists have contempt for the southern states in general, because of the conservative values...



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Well stated and is my feeling as well.
 
Yeah, trucks and SUVs "crush" and "obliterate" the other vehicles in a crash, but a car (even if its more massive than an SUV) just "strikes" another car.

Its blatantly obvious once you start looking out for it. Just like we went from "greenhouse effect" to "global warming" to "climate change" to "sudden climate shift." The actual phenomenon hasn't changed (not even debating whether its real or not), but the media has to always make every headline more frightening (and more in-line with the narrative they're selling) than the last.
 
Originally Posted By: gfh77665
I live in south TX, which is pretty conservative. There are probably more PU's on the road than cars, since it is rural and the oil & gas, construction, and farming industries are the main employers.

Our media, though, is another matter. Many times we get imported news reporters from the north, or east or west coastal locations, and they seem to at times, resent trucks when reporting.

Their stories often have pictures of wrecks with them. If the driver of a pickup truck HAPPENS to be at fault, they eagerly proclaim: The PICKUP TRUCK DRIVER did such and such. When a small car or minivan is at fault, they say The driver of the first VEHICLE did such and such...

I had the opportunity to politely ask one of these reporters about this, and he got real defensive and terse, and was not able to give a coherent answer. Latent "bubba bashing" at its finest, IMO.


A PICKUP TRUCK DRIVER pulled this (poor newbie/inexperienced) driver out of snow 8 years ago.
you want to bet that those reporters never used tools in their live for a living (pickup truck included; and their own hands....)?
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Yeah, trucks and SUVs "crush" and "obliterate" the other vehicles in a crash, but a car (even if its more massive than an SUV) just "strikes" another car.

Its blatantly obvious once you start looking out for it. Just like we went from "greenhouse effect" to "global warming" to "climate change" to "sudden climate shift." The actual phenomenon hasn't changed (not even debating whether its real or not), but the media has to always make every headline more frightening (and more in-line with the narrative they're selling) than the last.


When I was growing up in the '60s and '70s the local media would always fall all over themselves to breathlessly report that a "sports car" or a "small foreign car" was involved in an accident- especially when the accident involved a fatality. Now trucks and SUVs are getting the same unfair treatment.

Having personally dealt with the media(primarily newspapers and local TV stations) for going on 29 years, I can tell you with absolute certainty that their mission statement is:

NEVER let the facts get in the way of a good story.
 
There are many aggressive driving mongoloids out there who own light trucks. The worst in my area are the high school kids with a diesel 3/4 or 1 ton and the soccer moms who figure a 4 door truck will hold up better to all the things they wreck into than their old minivan did. There are bad drivers in all ages, genders and types of vehicle but these are the ones that stand out most often to me. They give every owner of a light truck a bad reputation. Myself included.
 
Turn off the news! There's much better content available online from different sources than what the 6 o'clock news regurgitates. There isn't much of an anti-light truck attitude in the northwest surprisingly. I live in uber left wing Portland and drove a truck for years around the inner city and nobody looked disgusted. Bro trucks are a different story.
The bicycle crowd up here hates anything with a motor
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Yeah, trucks and SUVs "crush" and "obliterate" the other vehicles in a crash, but a car (even if its more massive than an SUV) just "strikes" another car.

Its blatantly obvious once you start looking out for it. Just like we went from "greenhouse effect" to "global warming" to "climate change" to "sudden climate shift." The actual phenomenon hasn't changed (not even debating whether its real or not), but the media has to always make every headline more frightening (and more in-line with the narrative they're selling) than the last.


And they STILL have not told us which country has Flight MH-370. The media, particularly CNN, had a most intense, almost stalker-like, fetish with that flight.

Still haven't found it, so. Maybe something else happened.. how would WE know.

As to pickups, yes, many SUV drivers are seen as evil unless it is the Escalade with 26" wheels and tires and the booming system. Drive like a jerk all you want.. if you fit the description and believe in Change, you're fine.
 
I don't care what other people drive as long as they can handle the vehicle safely to themselves and others.

That said, I have seen enough things falling off truck beds and people losing control of their van / truck / SUVs to get the opinion that there are more drivers who are disqualified to drive these bigger vehicles, and should have driven cars instead.
 
Light truck owners barely garner a blip on the radar of media ridicule compared to heavy commercial truck drivers. At least light truck owners don't have a million pages of regulations to comply with every time they start the truck, with the regulations changing all the time to meet the latest political issue du jour. And no need for a special operator's license complete with a myriad of endorsements one also has to test for in getting it. General test, Air brake test, combination test, tanker test, hazmat test, doubles/triples test, passenger test. All in written form with some of them also requiring hands on testing as well.

What chaps my hide is when the media claims a car had a wreck with a truck, and the implication is that all those commercial trucks are nothing but death rolling down the highway, and it turns out 90% of the time to be a little 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton pickup that was the "truck" in the accident. Those aren't trucks. They are cars on steroids with a cargo box.
 
They had to drop the banner "Global Warming" once it was pointed out that the Earth has been naturally warming since the last Ice Age.
 
I used to worry about fuel consumption, etc. Now I worry about towing my trailer safely and not getting stuck when hunting. Nothing will cause a nasty wreck like losing control of your trailer trying to tow it without enough truck! Hence- 4x4 F250.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I'm supposed to believe your local news biases are the fault of other areas of the country? Your governor is out in other states courting them to move their businesses to TX; you can't have it both ways.


I really don't care what you believe. You clearly just demonstrated your bias and hostility against the rural south, and the economic success we enjoy here.

Thanks for proving my point!
 
Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I'm supposed to believe your local news biases are the fault of other areas of the country? Your governor is out in other states courting them to move their businesses to TX; you can't have it both ways.


I really don't care what you believe. You clearly just demonstrated your bias and hostility against the rural south, and the economic success we enjoy here.

Thanks for proving my point!


Or, just how quickly Connecticut will call gun violence the fault of the Iron Pipeline, and not the people using them.
 
So we're not all unkempt drooling drunken redneck environment-hating cowboys?

I don't really care what others may think about me and my machines, particularly those in the 'media.'

Hauled 300 pieces of ~1x6x6 western redwood fencing (a renewable resource!) in the GMC Sierra yesterday. Try that in your Prius, city slicker.
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I work in the 84th largest TV media market and we get greenhorn reporters who then move onward when they get "good". Occasionally a dud will "bounce back" here.

Maybe your station news director is from the north and has a "type" or maybe they're owned by Hearst/Sinclair/Fox/Comcast and has a news talent "minor league" internal feeder system.

Anyway, noticing news biases is the first step to dealing with them. Some stations refuse to mention global warming AT ALL because they don't want to PO their sponsors.

Similarly, their "Investigative reporting" rarely goes after new car dealers, because, after all, those dealers pay the bills.
 
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