Slog Comments
It's Time for Organized Labor to Build Their Own Media
1
WCFL in Chicago (AM 1000 and TV ch. 32) was founded as "Chicago Federated Labor". Ironically, the TV station is now a Fox affiliate.
"The Voice of Labor"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCFL_%28AM%…
"The Voice of Labor"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCFL_%28AM%…
2
Non sequitur. Why not just advocate they start a chain of fast food burger joints, or buy the Hostess brand?
3
Isn't the Guardian, which does some excellent reporting in the UK, owned by organized labor there?
That seems like an excellent model to follow.
That seems like an excellent model to follow.
5
Isn't the Guardian in the UK associated with organized labor (or "labour") over there?
I do know that it has never turned a profit and is deliberately subsidized. And that it has a stable of excellent journalists and a significant online presence.
Maybe that's the model to follow.
I do know that it has never turned a profit and is deliberately subsidized. And that it has a stable of excellent journalists and a significant online presence.
Maybe that's the model to follow.
6
Since a lot of people, like me, recently cancelled their subscription to the Times, now would be a good time to launch a union rag.
7
Air America! Current TV! What could go wrong?
False equivalence, that's what. The Fox News audience has no counterpart. Conservatives want to hear bullshit. They're excited to think they can go through a whole day -- a whole lifetime -- and have contrary opinions hidden behind self-imposed blinders.
Progressives, liberals, even most moderates, want no such thing. They think Rachel Maddow is cute and all but for their bread-and-butter daily supply of news and information they don't want to hear from ideologues. They want the real thing: actual impartial media. Not propaganda with the opposite slant from Fox.
Or what? You want to replicate the "success" of the Seattle Times, only pro labor instead of pro business? The Seattle Times is dying. Nobody will invest in replicating that.
False equivalence, that's what. The Fox News audience has no counterpart. Conservatives want to hear bullshit. They're excited to think they can go through a whole day -- a whole lifetime -- and have contrary opinions hidden behind self-imposed blinders.
Progressives, liberals, even most moderates, want no such thing. They think Rachel Maddow is cute and all but for their bread-and-butter daily supply of news and information they don't want to hear from ideologues. They want the real thing: actual impartial media. Not propaganda with the opposite slant from Fox.
Or what? You want to replicate the "success" of the Seattle Times, only pro labor instead of pro business? The Seattle Times is dying. Nobody will invest in replicating that.
8
@7, did you just ignore where Goldy specifically said, "And I don't mean a propagandistic rag." Or did you read it, but you don't believe him for some reason?
9
Rather than start something from scratch, they'd be better served to take over an outlet that has been historically known to have a liberal bent, has a current brand and distribution, but maybe is struggling a bit financially. Say, Newsweek/The Daily Beast.
11
@9 Well, I'm specifically thinking about local media. And I'm not sure there is an advantage to taking over an existing outlet, as that burdens you with existing infrastructure.
12
It's about time the unions actually get their perspectives out there as part of the wider cultural conversation. They've been totally browbeaten into a corner. And yeah, not as some slathery propaganda, but actual nuanced perspective and debate. I'm fucking sick of what passes for "news" and "political dialogue" in this country... it's all emotionalist shouty bullshit.
13
@7 Actually, what I'm really talking about is something more along the lines of the Wall Street Journal. Quality, professional news reporting but with an overtly partisan op-ed page.
15
@13
That's what Fox News thinks they are. Professional. When your reason for existence is to push a point of view, you can call yourself "professional" all you want, but that doesn't make it true. And real professionals aren't going to want to work for you; all you're going to get are hacks who are dumb enough to think propaganda is "professional" because it's "true."
It's understandable that you would wish the solution to all these problems was really that simple.
You know, if there was really no connection between the WSJ's news and op ed page, then the wingnut editorials would be no different than paid ads attached to a real newspaper. Instead of sinking millions into a new news outlet, just buy a big pro-labor ad in the WSJ every day.
But of course you don't really think the WSJ's news is non-partisan. You just want something biased, but with the WSJ's "non-partisan" brand image.
I'm pretty sure folks today are starting to catch on and realize the WSJ's news ain't all that.
That's what Fox News thinks they are. Professional. When your reason for existence is to push a point of view, you can call yourself "professional" all you want, but that doesn't make it true. And real professionals aren't going to want to work for you; all you're going to get are hacks who are dumb enough to think propaganda is "professional" because it's "true."
It's understandable that you would wish the solution to all these problems was really that simple.
You know, if there was really no connection between the WSJ's news and op ed page, then the wingnut editorials would be no different than paid ads attached to a real newspaper. Instead of sinking millions into a new news outlet, just buy a big pro-labor ad in the WSJ every day.
But of course you don't really think the WSJ's news is non-partisan. You just want something biased, but with the WSJ's "non-partisan" brand image.
I'm pretty sure folks today are starting to catch on and realize the WSJ's news ain't all that.
16
How nice it would be, if generally lefty, progressive papers and alt-weeklies actually had staff, organized and represented by labor. Wow, now there's a concept, eh? Perhaps you can get Mr. Keck's permission to organize.
17
You mean sorta like national network news used to be, in the Murrow/Huntley-Brinkley/Cronkite era? Back when the news division wasn't expected to be profitable, because it was a public service? Back before news was subsumed under entertainment (thanks for nothing, Roone Arledge)?
How utterly quaint.
And yes, such a union owned/subsidized news outlet would still be advertising supported. But without the need to break even let alone turn a profit, the whole newspaper business model crisis becomes a non-issue. There would be no expectation that revenues ever cover operations.
You mean sorta like national network news used to be, in the Murrow/Huntley-Brinkley/Cronkite era? Back when the news division wasn't expected to be profitable, because it was a public service? Back before news was subsumed under entertainment (thanks for nothing, Roone Arledge)?
How utterly quaint.
18
Jesus Christ, what tired snark and cuntiness from most of commenters. And what's with turning on the Stranger as if it's hypocritical that they publish a post like this? I don't get it, save to imagine most people feel so castrated nowadays that they go knee-jerk even at a hint of a discussion or remedy or insight as to how things might change. Just piss on everything because it's easier to blowhard in a comment thread than actually do anything constructive.
While there's time and money left something radically different has to come together to shift the trend that continues to drift from state to state (today Michigan). Because the disempowered can't get at the real culprits they turn on each other, it's the oldest law of the jungle.
And as an aside, what about the 'consumer' in this equation? If pocketbooks and wallets slam shut interest and efforts shift dramatically; and yet people hord by the millions into the nearest Walmart because a shitty cell phone is marked down 15%.
Which is why Goldy's idea is moving in the right direction -- or at the very least Ph'nglui's: "Instead of sinking millions into a new news outlet, just buy a big pro-labor ad in the WSJ every day." It's a start. Everyone else shut the fuck up.
While there's time and money left something radically different has to come together to shift the trend that continues to drift from state to state (today Michigan). Because the disempowered can't get at the real culprits they turn on each other, it's the oldest law of the jungle.
And as an aside, what about the 'consumer' in this equation? If pocketbooks and wallets slam shut interest and efforts shift dramatically; and yet people hord by the millions into the nearest Walmart because a shitty cell phone is marked down 15%.
Which is why Goldy's idea is moving in the right direction -- or at the very least Ph'nglui's: "Instead of sinking millions into a new news outlet, just buy a big pro-labor ad in the WSJ every day." It's a start. Everyone else shut the fuck up.
19
@5, the Guardian is my go-to paper, but over the last three years it's been losing a hundred thousand pounds a day.http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/i…
20
If that's what it takes to get some decent economic analysis out there, then yeah, I'm for it. I'm sick of seeing right-wing economic ideas presented as serious science and not what they really are, which is something David Koch pumped out on an extended potty break back in 1978. Even Milton Friedman wouldn't recognize the propaganda they're spreading in his name.
21
Think of all the union dues collected since 1946. Here's my question..why don't unions own every business and piece of property in the world!?
I have the same question for drug dealers...
I have the same question for drug dealers...
22
I advocated this a couple years ago but was too much an outsider with labor and liberal donors to get anywhere with folks in WA state who might have funded it. It's the only hope, I think, for restarting professional, local public interest journalism.
There is a model for it, but it's not in the U.S.: It's the Tyee in British Columbia: http://thetyee.ca/. Solutions-oriented journalism, with real investigative reporting, funded but not controlled by the labor movement.
There is a model for it, but it's not in the U.S.: It's the Tyee in British Columbia: http://thetyee.ca/. Solutions-oriented journalism, with real investigative reporting, funded but not controlled by the labor movement.
23
@21 Maybe it's not the vast fortune you think it is. And maybe it was used for its intended purpose: to support organizing and collective bargaining, and to replace wages for striking workers.
25
Interesting idea.
"professional journalists" even? radical!
Goldy, do you know any professional journalists?
"professional journalists" even? radical!
Goldy, do you know any professional journalists?
26
what would this new outlet do that the three networks, CNN, MSNBC and PBS are not already doing?
The problem is not a lack of pro-union propoganda.....
The problem is not a lack of pro-union propoganda.....
27
Goldy,
how do you suppose the Unions got their asses kicked in Michigan?
How Could This Happen?
We will explain.
Are you aware of how many laws Obama broke when he stole from the bond holders and delivered a huge cash Political Payoff ('quid pro quo Bacon', is that what Pig Liberal Democraps in Michigan call it?...)?
And we mean LITERALLY 'stole'.
Do you know how many other employees in the auto industries and in Michigan were screwed over and had their pensions stolen in order to fund the graft to the Unions?
Of course you don't.
You get all your "news" from MSNBC. You don't hear much from the Real World when your head is always stuck up your own ass.
But Real People in Michigan know.
And now so do you.
how do you suppose the Unions got their asses kicked in Michigan?
How Could This Happen?
We will explain.
Are you aware of how many laws Obama broke when he stole from the bond holders and delivered a huge cash Political Payoff ('quid pro quo Bacon', is that what Pig Liberal Democraps in Michigan call it?...)?
And we mean LITERALLY 'stole'.
Do you know how many other employees in the auto industries and in Michigan were screwed over and had their pensions stolen in order to fund the graft to the Unions?
Of course you don't.
You get all your "news" from MSNBC. You don't hear much from the Real World when your head is always stuck up your own ass.
But Real People in Michigan know.
And now so do you.
28
11
"as that burdens you with existing infrastructure.".....
you mean 'legacy costs'?
like ruinous industry killing Union contracts?
like extortionist Union pensions?
oh the irony.
do you even listen to yourself?
Is this new Union rag going to be a non union shop?
like the Hypocritical Scab Stranger?
"as that burdens you with existing infrastructure.".....
you mean 'legacy costs'?
like ruinous industry killing Union contracts?
like extortionist Union pensions?
oh the irony.
do you even listen to yourself?
Is this new Union rag going to be a non union shop?
like the Hypocritical Scab Stranger?
29
@21: Bailo, if you do not even understand the most basic concept of how something works, perhaps you should not talk about it like you are an expert. This is why no one likes you.
30
Newspapers everywhere have business sections but none of them have a labor section.
I'd stick with Democracy Now and Mother Jones myself and build off of those items. They tend to be more independent than MSNBC will ever be (can you say mouthpiece for Corporate Democrats?) and they have an established history of being pro-labor.
But perhaps The Stranger should lead by example and unionize themselves? Talk is cheap..action isn't.
I'd stick with Democracy Now and Mother Jones myself and build off of those items. They tend to be more independent than MSNBC will ever be (can you say mouthpiece for Corporate Democrats?) and they have an established history of being pro-labor.
But perhaps The Stranger should lead by example and unionize themselves? Talk is cheap..action isn't.
31
I'd say focus on radio. Portland lost its only progressive radio station a few months ago, AM 1090 in Seattle gonna go all sports starting Jan. 2. And no, NPR and public radio does not count as progressive radio. Not even close. This is happening all over the country - soon the only thing left on the airwaves will be right wing hate talk radio, sports, 24 hr news, classic rock, top-40, country western, and a smattering of Latino radio. (this analysis is from Norman Goldman, for all you am1090 listeners).
Newspapers are fading away, unfortunately.
Newspapers are fading away, unfortunately.
32
With one or two exceptions, the comments here today bespeak massive ignorance; doubtful that there's any excuse for such stark ignorance.
First, it's far too little, far too late.
Examples: 40% of the union households in Wisconsin voted twice for republicon Gov. Wanker, who is doing away with any form of collective bargaining in that state in his drive to destroy all the unions (the douchetards voted the first time, and again on that recall election: I called it completely on that regard --- no big thing, as we witnessed those hopelessly ignorant douchetards cheering, cheering and cheering Bill Clinton when he arrived there prior to the recall election, the very same Bill Clinton who did in his state of Arkansas exactly what Gov. Wanker was doing in Wisconsin in putting the screws to the unions).
The percentage appears about the same for union households in Michigan who voted for THEIR republicon governor --- you get whats you votes for --- and those douchetards and douchebaggers, who just happen to belong to a union, got exactly what they voted for!!!!!
Just like that douchetard longshoreman, interview before the presidential election in NYC, who was still undecided as to whether he would vote Romney or Obama!!!!
Not too long ago, I contacted Labor Radio to scream at them for acting as a conduit for press releases from the National Association of Manufacturers --- if one has to explain to those people that NAM is historically the most anti-worker, anti-union organization in America (first president: George W. Bush's great-grandfather, and one of the founding members), then we really do have quite the surplus of douchetards out there today.
Recommend reading and the best business book written in the last 50 years:
The Hellhound of Wall Street, by Michael Perino
More...
First, it's far too little, far too late.
Examples: 40% of the union households in Wisconsin voted twice for republicon Gov. Wanker, who is doing away with any form of collective bargaining in that state in his drive to destroy all the unions (the douchetards voted the first time, and again on that recall election: I called it completely on that regard --- no big thing, as we witnessed those hopelessly ignorant douchetards cheering, cheering and cheering Bill Clinton when he arrived there prior to the recall election, the very same Bill Clinton who did in his state of Arkansas exactly what Gov. Wanker was doing in Wisconsin in putting the screws to the unions).
The percentage appears about the same for union households in Michigan who voted for THEIR republicon governor --- you get whats you votes for --- and those douchetards and douchebaggers, who just happen to belong to a union, got exactly what they voted for!!!!!
Just like that douchetard longshoreman, interview before the presidential election in NYC, who was still undecided as to whether he would vote Romney or Obama!!!!
Not too long ago, I contacted Labor Radio to scream at them for acting as a conduit for press releases from the National Association of Manufacturers --- if one has to explain to those people that NAM is historically the most anti-worker, anti-union organization in America (first president: George W. Bush's great-grandfather, and one of the founding members), then we really do have quite the surplus of douchetards out there today.
Recommend reading and the best business book written in the last 50 years:
The Hellhound of Wall Street, by Michael Perino
33
@21, perhaps you were raised in a cave without adequate access to the news:
The Breakdown, Bitchez ! ! !
Paulson and Goldman Sachs met and devised a CDO, the Abacus CDO, made up of the crappiest loans possible (guaranteed to default), then they purchased a boatload of credit default swaps (CDS, called naked swaps when the purchaser has no immediate connection to the investment, as was the case with Paulson), and then made a fortune --- as in $3.4 billion for Paulson and billions for Goldman Sachs.
You see, for each CDS purchased at $1.4 million Paulson had purchased, the payout was $100 million, and he purchased oodles and oodles of them.
So AIG's Financial Products group sold $460 billion of those unregulated insurance policies , or CDSes, with no capital on hand to back up a potential payout of between $20 trillion to over $40 trillion (note, the currency amount was in the trillions --- hence the bailouts from the US Treasury along with over $23 trillion pumped out worldwide by the Federal Reserve Bank (we know it was over $23 trillion, but not how much over as there's never been a forensic audit of the Federal Reserve).
Magnetar Capital followed the same financial fraud process --- 96% of their deals went bad, yet they walked away with billions. Ever wonder how those private equity guys make so much money while destroying companies (and employment) all the time? Well, now you know!
Now, since the US Treasury is adamant that the naked swap continues to exist and thrive, this situation will occur again and again and again, only far worse, as debt has accumulated --- their debt that is, the stuff they keep shoveling onto the rest of us while screaming for austerity for the rest of us! (Not surprising, given that the Treasury is comprised of so many Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase alumni.)
In the OCC report (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), ending 2011, it stated that 97% of bank credit derivatives were Credit Default Swaps, and 40% of that number were in the speculative category (i.e., naked swaps or uncovered swaps). While we must take these numbers, as horrendous as they sound, on faith (much the same way we take on faith that talking snake in the Garden of Eden, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny), it is important to recall that the naked swap was the primary tool of economic destruction (and enrichment for the super-rich) which was wielded by hedge fund dudes, private equity LBO dudes, and various and assorted bankster types, to crash the economy back in 2007-2008 --- which will take decades to deleverage, or set aright.
Just as John Paulson, his hedge fund, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Magnetar Capital (and I'd love to see the books from Darby Overseas Investments), and so many others, used those swaps to enrich themselves while destroying companies and jobs and many people’s equity and savings, so too do those weapons still exist.
The breakdown: 95% of credit derivatives are controlled by the top five banks, while 100% are controlled by the top 25 banks.
And that is why financial types keep claiming that the next crash will be worse than the last……
http://www.occ.gov/topics/capital-market…
[p. 10, CDS = 97% of bank credit derivatives at end of 2011]
[p. 11: The five banks with the most derivatives activity hold 95% of all derivatives, while the largest 25 banks account for nearly 100% of all contracts.]
More...
The Breakdown, Bitchez ! ! !
Paulson and Goldman Sachs met and devised a CDO, the Abacus CDO, made up of the crappiest loans possible (guaranteed to default), then they purchased a boatload of credit default swaps (CDS, called naked swaps when the purchaser has no immediate connection to the investment, as was the case with Paulson), and then made a fortune --- as in $3.4 billion for Paulson and billions for Goldman Sachs.
You see, for each CDS purchased at $1.4 million Paulson had purchased, the payout was $100 million, and he purchased oodles and oodles of them.
So AIG's Financial Products group sold $460 billion of those unregulated insurance policies , or CDSes, with no capital on hand to back up a potential payout of between $20 trillion to over $40 trillion (note, the currency amount was in the trillions --- hence the bailouts from the US Treasury along with over $23 trillion pumped out worldwide by the Federal Reserve Bank (we know it was over $23 trillion, but not how much over as there's never been a forensic audit of the Federal Reserve).
Magnetar Capital followed the same financial fraud process --- 96% of their deals went bad, yet they walked away with billions. Ever wonder how those private equity guys make so much money while destroying companies (and employment) all the time? Well, now you know!
Now, since the US Treasury is adamant that the naked swap continues to exist and thrive, this situation will occur again and again and again, only far worse, as debt has accumulated --- their debt that is, the stuff they keep shoveling onto the rest of us while screaming for austerity for the rest of us! (Not surprising, given that the Treasury is comprised of so many Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase alumni.)
In the OCC report (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), ending 2011, it stated that 97% of bank credit derivatives were Credit Default Swaps, and 40% of that number were in the speculative category (i.e., naked swaps or uncovered swaps). While we must take these numbers, as horrendous as they sound, on faith (much the same way we take on faith that talking snake in the Garden of Eden, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny), it is important to recall that the naked swap was the primary tool of economic destruction (and enrichment for the super-rich) which was wielded by hedge fund dudes, private equity LBO dudes, and various and assorted bankster types, to crash the economy back in 2007-2008 --- which will take decades to deleverage, or set aright.
Just as John Paulson, his hedge fund, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Magnetar Capital (and I'd love to see the books from Darby Overseas Investments), and so many others, used those swaps to enrich themselves while destroying companies and jobs and many people’s equity and savings, so too do those weapons still exist.
The breakdown: 95% of credit derivatives are controlled by the top five banks, while 100% are controlled by the top 25 banks.
And that is why financial types keep claiming that the next crash will be worse than the last……
http://www.occ.gov/topics/capital-market…
[p. 10, CDS = 97% of bank credit derivatives at end of 2011]
[p. 11: The five banks with the most derivatives activity hold 95% of all derivatives, while the largest 25 banks account for nearly 100% of all contracts.]
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