Newspaper reporters exposed: Look for the union label. And then look for the union bias.

Each time CNBC reporters mention General Electric, they must reveal that GE is the parent company of CNBC. Same thing goes with financial writers. Ethics dictate that if financial correspondents write about a company in which they own stock, they must reveal that position.

Now the FTC even wants bloggers to let people know of potential conflicts-of-interest.

It’s called a disclaimer. Disclaimers recognize the power of the media to deliver a message and to influence opinion. By revealing possible conflicts of interest, the journalist helps the reader or viewer filter through potentially biased messages.

So, why aren’t other reporters — non-business or investment type journalists — required to reveal their potential conflicts of interest?

Shouldn’t all the big newsrooms that are run by union- or guild-led editors and reporters should offer a disclaimer when they write about labor issues, like Card Check and other union-backed movements. After all there are thousands of union members in our newsrooms, according to the Newspaper Guild Website:

“Founded as a print journalists’ union, the Guild today is primarily a media union whose members are diverse in their occupations, but who share the view that the best working conditions are achieved by people who have a say in their workplace. We have more than 34,000 members in the United States, Canada and in Puerto Rico, and we are journalists, sales and media workers of all kinds.”

This includes the New York Times, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and virtually every other liberal newspaper this side of Smallville.

If reporters have to disclose possible conflicts of interest with corporate America, why shouldn’t conflicts of interest with Big Labor be disclosed, as well.

It’s a point that was brought up by the Washington Times. The Boston Newspaper Guild represents hundreds of employees on the New York Times and Boston Globe staff. The article also points out that these papers tend to have a high union bias.

“There is little doubt that American workers need unions,” the New York Times editorial board wrote in a February 2008 editorial. “A bill that would have made it easier for unions to organize workers died in the Senate last June. Congress should take up this issue again to stop companies from using threats and other aggressive tactics to keep organized labor out, and to help win workers their rightful share of the economic pie.”

The Washington Post wrote a glowing editorial about the incoming AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka, that ignored several issues in Trumka’s past, while never divulging the paper’s own union leanings.

Then there’s the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which include all your favorite – or not so favorite – radio and television reporters, writers, and anchors. AFTRA, which has about 70,000 members, gives out an award called the AMEE for AFTRA members who “contribute to society.” The winners of a recent award include the team from 60 Minutes and Dan Rather. Surprised?

This all just might explain other editorial bias that’s rampant in America’s mainstream media, which are also in lock-step with other bricks on the left-wing, socialist agenda. It might explain why America’s news organizations have gone so easy on the organized SIEU union thugs now strong arming honest citizens at congressional town hall meetings.

90 percent of the journalists are registered Democrats and even President Barack Obama acknowledged that all reporters “voted for him.”

Shouldn’t the disclaimer “The Democratic Party Is The Parent Company of this News Organization” should be posted along with union affiliation on every newspaper and every article every day.

Written by Sven Waring of DotPenn.com

Source: WashingtonTimes.com, NewBusters.org, MediaBistro.com, MediaBistro.com

Tagged as: journalists, reporters, union

Subscribe, tweet, share, tell a friend!

• RSS
• Email

Browse before and after this article

OLDER: The War on Terror is over, but the War on Mobs has just begun
NEWER: Hillary Clinton is the Secretary of State. And don’t you forget it, damn it.

Related Posts

1. Minneapolis newspaper supports unions. Unless it’s their workers’ union.
2. New York Times loves unions (unless they’re New York Times unions)
3. President pays off unions, tells 80% of American construction workers to go #$%@ themselves
4. Obama stabs union in the back, crosses picket line to tape Tonight Show
5. Bias by the numbers: Measuring the media’s 100-day love affair with Obama.