The American Labor Movement Needs to Fund Independent Progressive News Media

Since this publication covers the effects of the ongoing economic crisis on working families pretty much every week year round, I feel no particular need to write a one-off "things aren't looking up for working Americans" Labor Day editorial this year. For many news outlets nationwide, Labor Day is virtually the only time they write sympathetically (and all too briefly) about working people and our plight. Far more news outlets eschew even such cursory coverage and focus instead on the mere fact of this sole official workers holiday (since May Day never made the cut) being a 3-day weekend. And chattering mindlessly about the fun things we can all do for that 72-hour period - or at least those of us with jobs and days off - to the extent that our stagnating salaries and diminished buying power will allow.

By way of an alternative Labor Day editorial, then, I want to say a couple of things. One quick, and one more involved.

First, if you're in Boston, head over to the Boston Common for the annual union-run Labor Day rally on Monday at 12 noon. If you believe in workers rights and that a ("small d") democratic government needs to think about working people first, last and always, then you need to show up at that kind of public pro-labor event. If you live elsewhere and hear about a similar Labor Day rally, march, parade or picnic, then get thee hence.

Second, if you're a fan of independent progressive news media and you've been wondering how news outlets like Open Media Boston keep doing our journalism thing every week, the answer is simple. We've all been scraping along. Just like most every other form of news media out there these days. No one has a perfect funding solution for news media at any level. The old advertising-based corporate media model doesn't work as well as it once did, public media (as I addressed last week) doesn't do as much news as it should and is perennially short of funds due to structural political constraints imposed on public broadcasting long ago by Congress, and non-profit news media cannot easily make a go of it with scarce foundation grants and donations during a recession.

However there is a force out there that still has lots of money (if fewer members every year), gets very little in return for the hundreds of millions it spends on the ("big d") Democratic Party every election cycle, and has a desperate need to get its message out more effectively to working families across the nation ... the American labor movement. Unfortunately, many unions are gun-shy about funding news media (or anything) that they don't directly control - which is understandable, but I think short-sighted.

This publication and others like us have the ability to reach a significant audience that comes to trust us over time because we're independent. We have our progressive editorial stance. And we decide what we think is important to cover week to week. But our news is straight news. "Just the facts, ma'am" and all that. That's very different than publications run directly by unions - or any established institution, really - that exist to give one side of the story. Theirs. People don't respond well to that kind of coverage when looking for news that helps them to be informed members of our society.

And besides, most people still don't see labor's side (or, in truth, sides ... since there are different camps on most issues in the labor movement) of any issue on a regular basis. What they get for news, if anything, is produced by corporate-backed media that's just a shadow of its former self in terms of funding, quality and quantity. Certainly on the metro level. I mean there's obviously lots of news on the internet. But most of it simply echoes the reports of a the remaining major news media. Which in turn increasingly reflects the opinions of the rich and powerful on key political and economic issues.

Long story short, that picture can change. But it will take funding news media that focuses on working families AND has independent editors to get the job done in a fair way.

So why don't America's large unions consider spending a few percent of their combined political budget on funding independent news media - particularly on the metro level - every year? Those millions of dollars spread around to a few dozen outlets (old and new) in a few dozen localities could lead to a huge change in the way Americans perceive the travails of the the working majority. And, not coincidentally, go a long way towards garnering the kind of mass support for the best of labor's political and economic program in the bargain. I don't want to oversell my point here, but I do think that labor leaders need to think this stuff over carefully.

Naturally, independent publications would sometimes do stories that some union leaders might not like. But that's what a free press does. And independent news outlets - however much our editorial stance might sync up with the labor movement 90 percent of the time - will always take their role as guardians of the public trust seriously. And when it becomes newsworthy, we would definitely feel compelled to cover the various scandals and internal conflict that often buffets American unions. That will be a hard pill for some labor leaders to swallow, but I'd ask them to think "which would you rather have, a corporate news media that has what amounts to 'ignore, attack, or render irrelevant' orders out on coverage of labor unions, or a national consortium of independent news outlets that stands on the side of working people and sometimes criticizes union leadership?"

I would hope they'd see their way clear to back a strong progressive news media - as has been done by unions in many other countries - rather than continue status quo ante in this arena.

I'd be interested to participate in any conversation that any labor union or labor federation or any group of labor activists or leaders care to start up that has as its aim the establishment of the kind of funding mechanism for independent progressive news media that I propose above. I can be reached, as ever, at info@openmediaboston.org.

Otherwise, that's it for this week. I wish you all a Happy Labor Day. Save me a piece of pie. [Mmm ... pie ...]

Jason Pramas is Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston