Divide and conquer, pure and simple.
It amazes me that people still can't see the game, the media is owned by those who seek to exploit everything and as such will distort, alter, imagine or otherwise do whatever it takes to spin whatever they want us to believe.
You only have to think back to last year to see how the pilots & engineers 'dispute' was portrayed by the media, we knew right from wrong there, but how many of us got into arguments with people outside the industry over it, imagine the liberties they take with every other news item.