Mass media, class, and democracy: the struggle over newspaper representation of the UPS strike

Abstract

–This paper investigates whether organized labor can challenge the news media's pro-corporate representations of strikes and labor struggles. I studied the coverage of the 1997 UPS strike in three newspapers: USA Today, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. I found that their strike coverage, spanning about 191 articles, went through three distinct phases over the 15-day period. By studying these phases I agree that, for a brief period, public opinion and class solidarity, mobilized on the basis of a strike against corporate mistreatment of workers, played a key role in changing the tone of reporting, particularly in the Post and the Times. During this phase, the contradictions of the 1990s economic recovery and the problems of the working class became an issue of sustained interest in the public sphere. By showing how labor was able briefly to create an “open marketplace of ideas,” the paper concludes with an assessment of the democratizing potential of a politicized labor movement.

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