摘要：Abstract In 2014 General Motors Company (GM) recalled more than 2.6 million automobiles to replace a defective ignition switch that had been implicated in more than a dozen deaths. Despite early problems with the switch, it took GM almost 11 years to initiate the recall. The recall announcement led to a firestorm of media criticism. Much of that criticism, however, was badly distorted. I concentrate on The New York Times’ coverage because it is a trusted news source, and because it devoted substantial resources to the story. Problems with The Times’ coverage were likely magnified in less reliable media outlets. I describe what we know about the switch problem and General Motors’ attempts to solve it, and try to explain the forces—mainly psychological—that warped The Times reporting. These forces—love of a story with heroes, villains, and a moral dimension; willingness to view group human activity on the model of individual human activity; overly simple theories of human motivation; a tendency to attribute beliefs and desires to organizations—are not unique to The Times or this particular story, and can thus be expected to affect media reports of other corporate decision-making.
关键词：General Motors ; ignition switch recall ; New York Times ; organizational decision; making ; media biases
