What's Wrong with the News?: Media non-reporting of falling wages for workers and even for managers

While the media continues to spotlight the issue of "fat cats" (unnecessarily and improperly paid top executives), it continues to under-report the issue of falling wages for every other kind of worker in terms of real time and effort versus real take-home pay (in modern double-talk, this is part of the package referred to as "labour flexibility").

The issue has been highlighted in various books (e.g. those by Tom Sine and by Paul Klugman) and I have drawn attention to it at various times over the last ten years.

For an update on how the global mainstream media ignores or misrepresents the issue, see the story titled "Good News! The Rich Get Richer: Lack of applause for falling wages is media mystery" at the following website
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2854

That website is run by FAIR, the U.S. national media watch group, which has since 1986 aimed to offer "well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship"

FAIR scrutinises media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. As an anti-censorship organization, it exposes "neglected news stories and defend working journalists when they are muzzled".

FAIR believes, I think rightly, that structural reform is needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong non-profit sources of information.

It also encourages the public to contact media with their concerns, to become media activists rather than passive consumers of news.

FAIR publishes Extra!, the award-winning magazine of media criticism, and has a thriving listserv through which it distributes regular Action Alerts to its international network of activists - which you can join if you wish.

For an in-depth explanation of FAIR's critique of the mainstream media, you could start with its overview titled "What's Wrong with the News"?

You might also check out the article "What's FAIR?", by FAIR founder Jeff Cohen. And see what journalists, activists and scholars have to say about FAIR. Sphere: Related Content