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, We’re Focusing on the
New iPhone

Trade unions in India representing some 180 million workers staged a
one-day strike—and 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 world—and the third-largest economy in
the world—resulting in what may be the biggest labor action in world
history (AlterNet, 9/7/16), you’d think that would merit some kind of
news coverage, right?

Not if you’re 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 “anti-worker and anti-people” policies
of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an advocate of neoliberal policies
and increased foreign investment (Democracy Now!, 9/2/16). Assocham,
India’s chamber of commerce, estimated that the economic impact of the
strike was $2.4 billion–$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 networks—CNN, Fox
and MSNBC—either. (The Intercept‘s Zaid Jilani—9/6/16—noted that there was one mention on CNN International, when “the CEO of the human
resources consulting firm ManpowerGroup cited the Indian strike as
part of global concerns about technology suppressing wages.”) Neither
the PBS NewsHournor NPR touched the story.

Not a single US newspaper found in the Nexis database—which includes
most of the major papers, like the New York Times, Washington Post and
USA Today—reported an original story on the strike. (Associated Press
had a brief, 289-word report, which ran on the New York Times‘ website
and was doubtless picked up by other papers.) The Wall Street Journal,
whose full text isn’t on Nexis, also skipped the Indian strike story.

That’s an example of the kind of story US corporate media don’t care
about. What do they care about? Well, Apple is planning to release a
new version of the iPhone next week. That’s already making news: CBS
did a segment on its Money Watch program (9/7/16) previewing the
phone, as did NPR‘s 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, that’s the news that’s 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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