Friday, January 11, 2008

Media bias in writers-producers battle

The way in which the media has been covering the struggle between the Writers Guild (WGA) and the movie and TV producers (AMPTP) is very revealing of the biases of the corporate-owned media, particularly the way in which they have covered the threat posed to the award shows. For example, Variety's most recent headline:
"Globes is latest victim of WGA Strike; Ceremony collapses under weight of walkout."

Why "victim of WGA Strike?" Why not "victim of greedy, stonewalling producers?"

First of all it was the AMPTP that walked out of the negotiations on Dec. 7. So if anyone is responsible for the current problems, it is the producers not the writers.

But even at a more basic level no labor-management struggle is ever the result of the actions of only one side. No labor union has ever gone on strike unless provoked by management. The process is very simple: the current contract expires, the union makes a proposal, management accepts it or rejects it or they negotiate. In this case the WGA put a proposal on the table, the producers, instead of negotiating, walked out because they misjudged the union's strength and commitment. So we are at a standstill in negotiations - nothing is happening and the award shows (and the TV series) are falling like dominos. All it would take to get things moving again would be for the producers and networks to get back to the bargaining table. But you would never get this from the fundamentally dishonest media coverage.

Or try this Variety headline: "WGA strike means pay cuts at ICM." So anyone at ICM, whose pay is cut (or job is eliminated) knows who to blame. Why not?: "Stonewalling producers mean pay cuts at ICM"

For a breath of fresh air on the strike coverage check out Roger Wolfson on the Huffington Post and Michael Winship, President of the WGA-East on Friday's Democracy Now

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