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Equity, Human Rights And
The Future Of The Media Industry
By: Vernon Clark, Philadelphia
Newspaper Guild
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was a weekend of reflection and strategizing on issues
facing the turbulent media industry, and the Human
Rights and Equity Committee played an important role. |
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About 100 members
of The Newspaper Guild (TNG);
The National Association of Broadcast Employees and
Technicians (NABET);
and the Printing, Publishing and Media Sector - CWA (PPMS-CWA)
gathered at the Hilton Hotel in Baltimore Jan. 9-12
for the Future of the Media Industry summit. |
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conference, led by Guild president Bernie Lunzer and
PPMWS-CWA president Bill Boarman, featured
presentations by a broad range of labor leaders,
economists, journalists including
CWA president Larry
Cohen and Rafael Olmeda, president
Unity Journalists
of Color Inc. |
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Newspaper analyst Ken Doctor of San Jose, California,
noting the growing emphasis that newspapers are
placing on online operations, cautioned against
focusing too much a technology that so far has not
generated much revenue. "The danger is switching
readers habits," Doctor said, pointing out that only
about 13 percent of advertising revenue comes from
online. |
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He adds that in
terms of revenue and time spent reading newspapers
"Twenty online customers equal one newspaper
customer." Doctor and other speakers said the
business model for newspapers might need a
complete shift from the ad-driven revenue model.
During a panel discussion on "Coordinated Regional
Organizing Among Sectors," Shannon Duffy of the
St. Louis Newspaper Guild spoke of the need to
organize members of minority groups, those who
"are not stale, pale and male." Duffy noted that
Spanish- |
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language media
was growing, creating new organizing opportunities. He
and others said that more Spanish-speaking organizers
are needed to focus on the array of Spanish language
newspapers and broadcast companies such as Univision.
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Much focus was
placed on promoting the Employee Free Choice Act as a
key to expanding the reach of unions.
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Rafael Olmeda, president of
Unity, which encompasses Hispanic, black
and Native American journalist groups, said the Guild
and other unions should think of ways to balance the
need for newsroom diversity over the use of seniority
amid the downsizing of the media. Olmeda said he did
not know whether "15 years and brown skin equals 25
years in the business" but that some kind of
compromise must be reached to prevent newsrooms from
being filled only with white men. |
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Throughout the conference, members of the Human Rights
and Equity Committee asked many insightful questions
of the speakers and panelists.
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