Maven: Missed Connections on Airlines

This week, federal officials dropped opposition to plans by Richard Branson's Virgin Group, a European-based company, to start Virgin America, which will fly in American skies. The move was a necessary prelude, a last-minute horse trade with the European Union, which was due to vote on opening up newly deregulated trans-Atlantic routes to American carriers.

This pair of events -- the dropping of opposition to Virgin and the European Union's vote -- were directly related. And added together, they equaled a truth: The EU was going to approve the measure, and the airline industry, in America and Europe, was going to be transformed.

But take The Business Press Maven's hand as he leads you on a tour of the good, the bad and the ugly -- or the ugly, bad and good? -- in reporting on this issue.

First, Senor Feo: An Associated Press story run widely, including by Forbes, was headlined, "U.S. Gov't Tentatively OKs Virgin Plan." It went into details on the facts surrounding the Virgin decision. But it made no mention of the EU controversy. Whoa! The facts about Virgin set apart from the facts about the EU do not reveal the truth of the matter.

Now, Senior Medio, The Wall Street Journal was better, even if it still came up short of the runway. "Virgin America May Be a New Threat to U.S. Airlines," the headline said, telling precisely half the tale. The article is then off and running on the small-ball facts involved.