ABSTRACT

The second Glasgow case study dealt with the car industry. Criticism concentrated on the reporting of a speech by the Prime Minister about the problems of the industry, the manner in which television applied his remarks to a subsequent strike by engine tuners at Cowley, and the prominence given to strikes in explaining the difficulties of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), and indeed of the industry as a whole. The other big car industry story during the Bad News survey period was the report on BLMC by the Government’s chief industrial adviser, Sir Don Ryder. Following considerable pre-publication speculation about Sir Don’s findings, News at Ten led on 22 April with a report that owing to Leyland’s rapidly deepening cashflow crisis his report was being rushed out. Noting the scale of the proposed rescue Peter Sissons said that an important condition of government financing would be ‘proven stage by stage progress towards reducing industrial disputes and improving productivity’.