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The poor, the unions and the media
Granville Williams
DATELINE: 2/3/08
Two items from The Guardian prompt this piece. The first by Julia Finch, on the financial pages, (Viewpoint, 'Look to US for a real housing crisis', 27/02/08, p25) had this throw-away comment on the fact that homes repossessed by US lenders during January was 90% higher than a year ago. She wrote, 'The US banks might this year dump 1m seized homes into the market, which will force prices lower. If the UK had this scale of problem, it would be a political as well as a financial crisis. In the US there will likely be further interest rate cuts as recession looms.'
The crunch sentence for me was 'But poor people and their problems are not a great political issue in the US where 35 million people live below the poverty line.'
Well the US Census Bureau data puts it higher - 37 million Americans - 1 in 8 - lived below the federal poverty line in 2005, defined as an annual income of $19,971(£10,000) for a family of four.
Fair, the sister magazine of Free Press in the US, had a piece in its October 2007 issue, 'A Poverty of Coverage'. Some interesting facts. Twice in the past twenty years mainstream journalists made promises about dedicating themselves to greater coverage of poverty, racism and inequality.
The first was after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the second after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans. After Katrina, according to the Tyndall Report, which monitors what's covered on the nightly network news, in the eight months after Katrina poverty reporting increased from two-and-a-half- seconds a night to four seconds.
Reasons for the scant coverage? Journalists like a story to have a resolution, preferably happy, whereas poverty is a sad and intractable fact of life. Advertisers don't like poverty stories either (it can put people in a non-shopping mood) and the television news business puts a premium on affluent viewers who have an alleged distaste for poverty coverage.
But when programmes are broadcast it is clear that people do care about poverty and inequality. Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, on living as a low-income worker, was a best-seller.
And sometimes the mainstream media do cover issues of pay, inequality and working life. Deepa Kumar's Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike (University of Illinois Press) analyses the 1997 UPS strike when 185,000 UPS workers across the USA organised by the Teamsters Union. By the second week of the strike the mainstream media was forced to think outside the box.
Deepa Khumar argues 'Some sections of the corporate media, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the ABC television network, began to acknowledge inequality and discuss the problems of the U.S. working class'. The teamsters and their allies were able to win public support and brought pressure to bear on the media.
'In a sense, the Teamsters were able to break through the limitations of the antilabor framing mechanism of the "idiot box" and reach out to the outside world. In turn, public support and the outside world would help shape and frame the way the story was told'. However Deepa Khumar is realistic. After the strike the media reverted to their standard modus operandi and the coverage of workers marginalized
The other item in The Guardian, scandalously under-publicised in my view, was tucked away in G2, 26/02/08, 'Divide and Rule'. Jon Henley and Ed Pilkington investigated the rise of 'union-avoidance' consultancies in the UK (in the US they are called, more accurately, 'union-busting' organisations).
The operations of two organisations - the Burke Group (TBG) and Labour Relations Institute - are described.
One case dealt with TBG's involvement to block union recognition at Kettle Chips in Norwich, owned by the private equity company Lion Capital. However the overwhelmingly negative press coverage meant the company had to hire the PR firm Hill and Knowlton to improve its image.
Small gestures perhaps but don't buy Kettle crisps and send the company a little note to tell them it's because union busting stinks. Their address: Kettle Foods Ltd, Barnard Road, Bowthorpe, Norwich NR5 9JP
Historical Note
Michael Harrington published The Other America in March 1962 where in the midst of the affluent society there was another America, 'the unskilled workers, the migrant farm workers, the aged, the minorities, and all those who live in the economic underworld of American life'.Not much has changed.
Last modified: Sunday, March 2, 2008
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Journalism Theory & Practice
Media freedom in Europe under threat
Behind Flat Earth News
New threats to media freedom
Countdown to media freedom conference with Alan Johnston
Lords hear case for journalism
Regulation under the spotlight
Paul Foot award 2007
Does Islamophobia exist?
Beyond the veil
Orwell in Tribune: "As I Please" and other writings 1943-7
Are we moving from their media to ours?
What We Stand For
Text Size
Journalism gets younger and cheaper
The Angry Buzz: This Week and Current Affairs Television
Text Size
A Voice for Media Freedom
Media literacy reviews from Ofcom
