Almost 12 per cent of US workers were union members in 2010. Yet, unions have received little coverage in US TV news since 2004, barely receiving even a 0.1% share of coverage, according to Media Tenor. This low coverage of unions – which amounts to less than one television report per network per month – generally only occurs when there are worker actions on a national basis, such as the late-2007 Writer’s Guild of America strike which affected US television production, or when there are significant financial problems in heavily unionized industries, such as the US car industry.
The issues unions concern themselves with, such as wages, working hours, workplace safety and workplace bias, received somewhat more coverage during the analysis period, but still represented only a small fraction of television news reports, indicating that people who are not members of union households in the US probably have little awareness of union activities. And, while Media Tenor’s data also show some possible correlation between low levels of union coverage and high levels of negative coverage for workers’ issues, there is, overall, little association in US television news between workers’ issues and union activities and advocacy.
Union issues, however, have been prominent at the state level in 2011, with a standoff between public employee unions in Wisconsin and that state’s governor, which has resulted in 14 Democratic state senators fleeing the state to prevent a vote on a bill that would strip those unions of collective bargaining rights. Protests from unions have also transpired in Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey and other states in response to similar legislative efforts. Protests of support from other unionists in non-affected states have also o ccurred.
This story has made unions as visible in US TV news in the first two months of 2011 as they have been in some years of coverage. Yet, it remains to be seen how long the protests will continue and whether these events will mark an overall increase in union visibility. However, many pundits are predicting that unions will now be a key issue in the 2012 presidential race.
Media Tenor’s data also shows that unions in the US have been most visible on the television network that has the least favorable opinion of them, Fox News. So far in 2011, there has only been negative coverage of unions from Fox, with coverage from the other networks also lacking in positive statements, indicating that unions have not only a visibility problem, but a tone problem, in US TV news.
