This week two giant companies took extraordinary efforts to gin up more favorable press coverage. GM, the largest automaker, said it would yank its advertising from the Los Angeles Times—the largest paper in the nation's largest car market—because it was unhappy with the Times'coverage. And Wal-Mart, which generally treats the press like a dead fish, invited reporters to its Bentonville, Ark., bunker for a media day. Both efforts to manage press coverage—GM's stick and Wal-Mart's carrot—seem clumsy and betray a cluelessness on the part of management about the problems in their own businesses. It's true that neither Wal-Mart nor GM is getting particularly good press these days. But a more compliant media wouldn't much improve their situations.