By Anna I., Red Phoenix correspondent, Ohio.

The strikes of SAG-AFTRA and WGA continue to rage, but you likely would not know that if you consumed only capitalist news sources. The strikes began in July over unfair labor practices and are taking place primarily in Los Angeles and New York. A common misconception about actors is that they’re all rich and famous, but the vast majority of actors are simple gig-workers and stunt doubles who rely on production companies to furnish roles for them. Furthermore, a well-known tactic of the bourgeois mass media is ignoring a topic that the capitalist class wants to go away. Michael Parenti said, “The most common form of media manipulation is suppression by omission.” Mainstream news sources do not censor themselves by blacking out lines in any given article on any given subject, they do it by deciding what is considered ‘newsworthy’ by omitting or gesturing to whole subjects and events. Individual reporters or writers may have sympathies for a topic that goes against the interests of the bourgeoisie, but ultimately their work must pass through their editor. To an editor in this capitalist aristocracy, most strikes are not ‘newsworthy.’

One may push back, claiming that there is just not enough time or newspaper space to cover every single story in the day. They could also go further and point out that the Hollywood strikes got coverage early on and probably only get passed up now because other stories get better ratings. Yet, one must also consider that labor issues appeal to a very large swathe of the populace. Articles about this topic would draw a lot of eyes to the contents and also to ads. There is money to be made by covering these stories. What do the capitalists fear more than losing money? They fear losing their social position. It is much safer for the capitalists to put another celebrity gossip piece, a piece decrying or defending another Donald Trump scandal, or some other sensational story on the front page that can draw just as many eyes without sowing discontent among the workers.

In the paltry coverage that strikes do get, often pushed far from the front page, the capitalists spin the strikes as un-American and led by zealots who will not make reasonable deals. Every article seems to end with figures about how much money the company will lose with no mention of how much the workers could gain. An article in CNN seems to paint a growing labor movement as pointless and leading nowhere. One article in Fortune magazine even bemoaned the Hollywood strikes, saying that they are “bulldozing the economy” but neglecting to mention anything about the workers. In the end, the only reason these articles are even written is to make the capitalist news look like it is ‘hearing out both sides’ and being fair to workers. In reality, they are written to trick workers into trusting biased news.

Make no mistake, the labor movement is growing and securing important new victories. Just recently, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) set new rules concerning collective bargaining. These new rules grant more power to unions by cutting avenues companies can use to avoid bargaining with a newly created union. The determination of Starbucks and Amazon workers was unprecedented in the last 60 years of American history and the capitalists were ill-prepared to contain it. Gen Z is the most pro-union generation alive, with over two-thirds approving of unions. These victories for the working class make it all the more certain that capitalist news sources will continue to suppress news of continued strikes as it would only serve to generate more support for them.

It is incredibly important to track down news that is important to the working class, otherwise workers may find themselves acting against their own class interests, or the latest assault on those interests by the bosses and owners. Workers must be constantly seeking out stories that the capitalists do not want us to see. They must understand the implications and the reason the capitalists do not want them to see it. Proletarians must tune themselves into relevant local issues and ask comrades in other areas about issues in their region. Workers cannot allow themselves to be duped by the capitalist media any longer! Just as the Democrats and Republicans will always fail and mislead the workers, so too will MSNBC, CNN, Fox, and all other dens of deception we are forced to call the “press.” The workers must not only have their own independent political party, but their own media as well! Few other tools are as important for the raising of the masses from this manufactured ignorance and confusion to a prepared, organized and rightfully-outraged army of labor.

Categories: Editorials, Labor