The Writers Guild of America (WGA) East and West have been longstanding supporters of media reform work. They see first hand the impact that consolidation has on jobs and communities. Recently, WGA has been on strike because corporate media owners refuse to bargain in good faith about new and emerging forms of media. However, as we know from our work in media reform, one of the hardest things about fighting big media is that they control the airwaves (our airwaves).

In the blog entry below, one of the writers on strike writes about the dismal coverage their issue if getting in mainstream media. The post is from the WGA blog that leaders of the strike set up to chronicle their effort for a fair contract. Go check it out for some great videos and lots of great writing: http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com.

See the original post here: http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-we-up-against.html

What We Are Up Against

So, did you hear about the big WGA rally Friday? Unfortunately, if you weren't there, the answer is probably no.

After attending Friday's very inspiring and impressive event two days ago, I sat down at 11 p.m. that night to watch the Channel 4 news. I couldn't wait to see the coverage.

But wait I did.

And wait.

Past the segment about stolen copper causing a street light to be out on a popular bike path.

Then I waited some more.

Past some story about cats brought in to chase rodents at a police station (I'm not kidding). Until about 11:29 when they had -- no joke -- a 15 second snippet.

Yeah, yeah, I know KNBC is owned by one of the companies on the other side of the negotiating table. But come on!

You're telling me when 4,000 people show up in the streets of LA, shut down a main thoroughfare in the city, a laundry list of celebrities are on hand, Jesse Jackson addresses the crowd and the subject is an industry-wide strike some experts say could cost the local economy hundreds of millions of dollars, such an event only warrants 15 seconds at the end of the newscast?

Wow. I mean... wow.

You think if 4,000 striking UAW members took to the streets of Detroit after shutting down the automobile industry, it might make the local news before the high school football scores?