XPost: alt.fan.jai-maharaj, soc.culture.indian, alt.religion.hindu
XPost: soc.culture.usa, alt.politics
The Biggest Strike in World History? No Thanks, Weâre Focusing on the
New iPhone
Trade unions in India representing some 180 million workers staged a
one-day strikeâand there was virtually no coverage by mainstream
American media.
By Jim Naureckas / FAIR
September 9, 2016
When tens of millions of workers go out on strike in the
second-largest country in the worldâand the third-largest economy in
the worldâresulting in what may be the biggest labor action in world
history (AlterNet, 9/7/16), youâd think that would merit some kind of
news coverage, right?
Not if youâre a decision-maker at a U.S. corporate media outlet,
apparently.
A coalition of trade unions in India representing some 180 million
workers staged a one-day general strike on Friday, September 2, in
protest of what they called the âanti-worker and anti-peopleâ policies
of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an advocate of neoliberal policies
and increased foreign investment (Democracy Now!, 9/2/16). Assocham,
Indiaâs chamber of commerce, estimated that the economic impact of the
strike was $2.4 billionâ$2.7 billion (Hindustan Today, 9/3/16).
And yet there was virtually no coverage of the strike in commercial US
media, according to searches of the Nexis news database. Not a word on
ABC, CBS or NBC. No mention on the main cable news networksâCNN, Fox
and MSNBCâeither. (The Interceptâs Zaid Jilaniâ9/6/16ânoted that there was one mention on CNN International, when âthe CEO of the human
resources consulting firm ManpowerGroup cited the Indian strike as
part of global concerns about technology suppressing wages.â) Neither
the PBS NewsHournor NPR touched the story.
Not a single US newspaper found in the Nexis databaseâwhich includes
most of the major papers, like the New York Times, Washington Post and
USA Todayâreported an original story on the strike. (Associated Press
had a brief, 289-word report, which ran on the New York Timesâ website
and was doubtless picked up by other papers.) The Wall Street Journal,
whose full text isnât on Nexis, also skipped the Indian strike story.
Thatâs an example of the kind of story US corporate media donât care
about. What do they care about? Well, Apple is planning to release a
new version of the iPhone next week. Thatâs already making news: CBS
did a segment on its Money Watch program (9/7/16) previewing the
phone, as did NPRâs Morning Edition and All Things Considered
(9/7/16); the product was front-page news in USA Today (9/8/16) and
the Wall Street Journal(9/8/16), while you had to turn to page A12 in
the Washington Post (9/7/16) or the first page of the business section
in the New York Times (9/8/16) to get your future cellphone news.
A hundred million or more workers striking for their rights hold no
interest for the news managers in US corporate media. But a new gadget
from a prominent advertiser? Now, thatâs the news thatâs fit to print.
Jim Naureckas is the editor of FAIR.org.
http://www.alternet.org/media/biggest-strike-history-unreported-mainstream-media
--
Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com
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