Resolution on Labor Media for 7/05 vote by ILCA Executive Council

[papau]

Mods: Permission to publish whole article has been obtained.

Resolution on Labor Media
By the International Labor Communications Association

On December 20, 2004, ILCA President Marty Fishgold sent a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney proposing a number of steps to improve labor communications, and thereby to build the strength and reach of the labor movement.

The letter is available online at: http://ilcaonline.org/proposal.pdf

After discussion and suggestions from ILCA Executive Council members, Fishgold's original proposals have been developed into the following resolution, which will be discussed and voted on at the ILCA convention in Chicago in July. The version published here is a working draft. Between now and July, the ILCA would like to receive suggestions from as many of our members as possible on further revisions to this document. Please post your suggestions as comments below this article on the ILCA website at http://ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1906
, or - if you do not want them posted - send them to [email protected] If this resolution is passed by the ILCA membership, it will be taken to the AFL-CIO convention the following week.

RESOLUTION ON LABOR MEDIA:

Whereas the media outlets owned by major corporate conglomerates routinely omit, distort, and otherwise marginalize the concerns of working class Americans, and

Whereas an investment in the creation of independent media outlets would allow labor to make facts known and shape public debate in ways that have proven impossible with corporate powers owning almost all of the newspapers and radio and television stations, and

Whereas the labor movement has the resources, both human and financial, to have a major impact through the creation of new media, Be it resolved that the ILCA, the AFL-CIO, and the international unions will make a serious investment in national independent labor media during the next year, including the creation of at least one cable television show, at least one radio program, and at least one weekly hardcopy publication, all available nationally, and all with an additional presence on the internet. To these will be added within two years a radio network, and within five years a cable television network. These media outlets will provide coverage not only of the labor movement, but of the full range of politics and culture. Each media outlet created will be an independent organization subject to no editorial control by any union or labor federation. Each will be committed in its constitution to the promotion of growth in the labor movement and to accepting no funding or advertising from companies not approved by the AFL-CIO and the Union Label and Service Trades Department, and

Be it resolved that this national labor media strategy, including further initiatives taking advantage of new media technologies, will be developed by a commission made up of representatives of the ILCA, the AFL-CIO, the international unions, the broadcast and communications unions, and other producers of labor media, and

Be it resolved that the ILCA, the AFL-CIO, and the international unions will work with central labor councils and federations to develop their current publications into mass-circulation newspapers with broader appeal to working people and members of the community, and

Be it resolved that the ILCA, the AFL-CIO, and the international unions will invest in grass-roots communications training for the labor movement, training in the production of labor media as well as in relations with the corporate media. This effort will train staff and rank-and-file members to train other rank-and-file members in media production skills and media activism. A focus of this project will be the establishment of regional media resource and training centers, which will continually develop skilled media workers able to produce radio, television, print, and internet labor media, and

Be it resolved that the ILCA, the AFL-CIO, and the international unions will provide resources for the development of local labor radio and television programs, documentaries, newspapers, and internet outlets, as well as providing support to existing labor-friendly media productions, and

Be it resolved that the ILCA, the AFL-CIO, and the international unions will promote democracy in labor publications and media productions, meaning the inclusion of multiple and dissenting points of view in articles, columns, and letters to the editor. The discussion in recent months on the AFL-CIO website about the future of the labor movement is a good example of what is needed, and

Be it resolved that the ILCA, the AFL-CIO, and the international unions will make media reform a top legislative priority, and will make the FCC, Congress, and media conglomerates the targets of aggressive campaigns including massive public demonstrations demanding democratic media coverage that does not marginalize workers in favor of a corporate agenda.



This article is from ILCA Online
http://www.ilcaonline.org/

The URL for this story is:

http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1906