XPost: alt.activism, alt.activism.d, alt.activism.peacefire   
   XPost: alt.activism.student   
   From: clslate@gwtc.net   
      
   Labor Media May Be Our Best Hope Against the Corporate Version   
      
   By David Swanson   
      
   There is a growing consensus in the United States that mainstream commercial   
   media are by and large not mainstream at all but instead are supportive of   
   the corporate agenda.  Of course, the largest media companies (which provide   
   most Americans' news) and their large advertisers are themselves mammoth   
   corporations.  In addition to promoting policies that advance corporate   
   interests, our major media often appear to place profits ahead of investing   
   in in-depth quality journalism.   
      
   To be sure, there are numerous web-based, alternative, and   
   community-supported media challenging the corporate consensus.  But for all   
   their integrity and brilliance, these media outlets cannot challenge   
   corporate power.  They're too small, they don't frame issues on a national   
   scale, they don't win debates, and they don't set the political agenda.   
      
   But there is a sleeping giant among these alternatives, one that was a major   
   force in our country in the past * and which could be so again.  Some of its   
   overseas counterparts already have demonstrated their power as opinion   
   shapers.  This giant has its own potentially enormous supply of funding --   
   one that comes without corporate ties attached.  And it is uniquely   
   positioned to shift our habits of media consumption and participation.   
      
   I'm talking about the labor media.   
      
   I don't mean the handful of remaining labor reporters at daily newspapers or   
   their talented but equally limited counterparts in the progressive   
   magazines.  I mean the actual or potential newspapers, magazines, radio   
   shows, TV shows and websites produced by the thousands of labor unions in   
   this country, the 64 international unions, the central labor councils,   
   regional labor press associations, state federations of labor, the AFL-CIO   
   and the ILCA (International Labor Communications Association), as well as   
   numerous independent outlets that focus on labor and workers' issues from   
   workers' points of view.  The labor media are "member-supported" entities   
   with an unmatched membership base, but they need more support from union   
   members and leaders if they are ever to realize their full potential.   
      
   We've done it before.  We used to have thousands of labor publications, but   
   now are down to a scattering of national magazines, a couple of scholarly   
   journals, and small and struggling newspapers or none at all at many unions.   
   While this decline has paralleled that of organized labor, it's not   
   necessarily for lack of resources.  Rather, labor has spent entirely too   
   much on advertising on corporate media and on attempts to spin corporate   
   reporters, instead of putting its energy into its own media presence.  And   
   by carefully accepting more advertising from union companies not engaged in   
   labor disputes, labor could increase its media resources.   
      
   If we set our minds to it, the labor movement is capable of producing much   
   more substantial publications, including major national weeklies not written   
   solely for the membership of any one union, but for the vast majority of   
   Americans who are being shortchanged by the corporate media. That includes   
   the 42 million Americans who say they would like to join a union but haven't   
   been able to.  Better labor radio and TV shows are entirely within our grasp   
   as well.  But to achieve these goals we'll also have to increase labor media   
   democracy, making our publications inclusive of more workers' views --   
   including those who disagree with union leaders.  Otherwise, the labor media   
   will not be credible to readers in or out of the organized labor movement.   
      
   As documented by Andy Zipser, in an article titled "The Labor Press:   
   watchdog, lapdog, or canary in the mine shaft?" the labor movement has done   
   this in the past.  Indeed, the labor press was so large 50 years ago that   
   the Wall Street Journal worried, prior to the 1952 elections, that "the   
   influence of the labor press could be a potent factor in determining voting   
   results."  The labor press was important enough to prompt President-elect   
   Jack Kennedy to send a message to the 1960 convention of the ILPA   
   (predecessor to the ILCA), expressing his "deep gratitude for the   
   unprecedented support which the labor press gave to the Kennedy-Johnson   
   ticket."   
      
   Four years later, the ILPA convention included a televised speech by   
   Johnson, followed by questions from labor editors.  The 1966 convention   
   included an address by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and a reception at the   
   White House, at which Johnson again spoke.   
      
   But in subsequent decades labor unions, feeling financially pinched, began   
   turning inward -- and one place where cutbacks have hit hard is in   
   publications.  Many unions now are lagging in the development of websites,   
   and precious few radio and television shows address workers' concerns.  In   
   addition, many labor papers fail to make room for letters to the editor or   
   guest columns by members dissenting from viewpoints expressed by a union's   
   leadership.   
      
   At the ILCA, which is the professional association of labor journalists, we   
   see our mission as one of assisting labor editors with resources that will   
   free up more of their time for reporting, and of advocating within the labor   
   movement for greater investment in the labor media and in more democratic   
   labor media.  To these ends, we are developing a clearing house to put   
   journalism students in touch with labor media internship programs.  We are   
   creating a certificate program in labor communications, to be made available   
   at various locations around the country.  We are working with advertisers to   
   place more advertising (and money) in labor publications.  And, in the   
   coming months, we will be turning our website at ILCAonline.org into a   
   source of articles on labor that can be shared among ILCA members, as well   
   as national reporting from independent media sources.   
      
   Our goal is to create an alternative to the corporate news that currently   
   obscures more than it reveals about the lives of American workers.  Although   
   such efforts will be subject to accusations of bias, we believe that by   
   openly contrasting news for working families with the corporate press, we   
   will enhance the growing public awareness that corporate news is not   
   "objective" or "viewpoint-free." This shift in understanding might even prod   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)