Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Did You Know We Are Having the Largest Prison Strike in History?
Probably Not, Because Most of the Media Have Ignored It
________________________________________
Did You Know We Are Having the Largest Prison Strike in History? Probably
Not, Because Most of the Media Have Ignored It
By Adam Johnson [1] / AlterNet [2]
September 16, 2016
Thousands of prisoners in over 24 states began a labor strike on September
9, the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, to demand better
conditions and healthcare, the right to unionize and what one organizing
group calls an "end to slavery in America." But one would hardly know it
watching major U.S. media, which has mostly ignored the largest prison labor
strike in history. One week on, the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC
News, ABC News, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and NPR have not covered the prison
strikes at all.
In the same time period since the strike began, CNN has run stories on
Clinton's "body double [3]," the New York Times ran a piece on women getting
buzzcuts [4] and ABC News had an "exclusive trailer [5]" for its parent
corporation Disney's upcoming film. There was certainly enough airtime and
column inches to mention that workers had coordinated a national strike of
unprecedented scale, but for these outlets the coverage has been
nonexistent.
A handful of national outlets have covered the strike: The Nation [6], City
Lab [7], Engadget [8], Money Watch [9], Buzzfeed [10], and as of Thursday,
the Wall Street Journal [11], but every other major publication, network
news and cable network has thus far been silent.
When we spoke by phone, Azzurra Crispino, media co-chair of Incarcerated
Workers Organizing Committee [12], one of the strike organizers, was
hesitant to be too hard on the press out of hope the strikes would lose
coverage in the future. But after some prompting, the four-year prison
abolitionist veteran listed a few measured grievances at the media. Her most
consistent theme was that to the extent the strikes were being covered, the
focus was on spectacle over substance, and in doing so the media was making
nonviolent resistance all but impossible.
"I'm a pacifist, I would like to see the strikes remain nonviolent,"
Crispino told AlterNet. "Yet in terms of the mainstream press coverage when
there's blood on the ground the prisons have to fill out reports that guards
were hurt so then they can't deny strikes occurred," she said in reference
to the stonewalling of prison officials. The few reporters Crispino had
spoken to said most prison spokespeople denied any strikes were taking
place. "Between prisoners and TDCJ [Texas Department of Criminal Justice],
who do you think reporters are going to believe?" she asked.
The power asymmetry and the media's default position of siding with
government officials over those seen as criminals creates just one more
barrier to coverage. At its core, coverage of the prison strikes, as with
any protest action, has an inherently perverse incentive structure that puts
a premium on acts of violence and property damage and overlooks
non-telegenic peaceful activity, such as hunger strikes and labor stoppages.
This dynamic was seen [13] in the Standing Rock incident on September 3,
when private security sicced dogs on Native American activists protesting an
oil pipeline, and pictures of injured protesters went viral on social media.
At the time, only Democracy Now, a relatively small left-wing news show, and
AP and UPI filed original reports on the incident. Days after what the media
called "clashes," articles appeared with far greater frequency, including in
major outlets like New York Times [14], CNN [15] and NBC [16].
This warped incentive structure is even more pronounced in prisons, which
are by definition cut off from society. The only time anyone bothers to
notice prisons is when demonstrably violent action takes place.
"Which of the strikes are getting the most attention? Florida because
they're violent," Crispino says, in reference to the September 7 uprising
[17] at Homes Correctional facility in the Florida panhandle. "They can't
deny in Florida because prisoners are setting things on fire and there's
been so much structural damage they can't deny strikes are occurring."
A similar dynamic is at work when prisoners are in solitary confinement or
engage in body mutilation or destruction of property, often [18] by flooding
their cells or covering them with feces or blood. Similarly, Crispino
contends, each time the media ignores peaceful activities, it tips the
scales further in the direction of fires, property damage and rioting.
But this reason doesn't fully explain the lack of mainstream coverage. A few
outlets, as noted, have covered the strike to the extent they could,
especially in the buildup to the protest, so it's not as if there wasn't
enough information to compile a story.
One possible reason is that some of corporate media's biggest advertisers
use prison labor, so the disincentive to shine a light on the problem is
high. AT&T, Bank of America, Chevron, Eli Lilly, GEICO, McDonald's, and
Walmart all use prison labor and all are sponsors of corporate media so much
we can recite their commercials by heart. One corporation that uses prison
labor, Verizon, even owns major media outlets Yahoo and Huffington Post.
Russia Today, a Moscow-funded media outlet, was the only cable news network
to speak with Crispino, and to the best of her knowledge, the only one to
cover the strikes [19]. When Donald Trump appeared on RT last week, there
was a frenzy of outrage by mainstream pundits, with some questioning why
Trump would give credence to "Russian government-controlled propaganda
[20]." RT's position has always been that it covers stories the mainstream
press doesn't, and while some may see this as a cynical marketing ploy, in
the case of the prison strikes it also happens to be true.
Another issue for IWOC is that all the coverage thus far, even in
sympathetic outlets, has ignored their broader political aims, which is
prison abolition, not reform.
"The IWOC is an abolitionist organization," Crispino said. "Abolition is
pretty much completely ignored. It's interesting because people ask
questions about that and they ask what would you do instead, but no one
wants to hear that and they never write about it." That the media is
allergic to ideology, to having deeper discussions about our society's core
axioms and why the U.S. has 25% of the world's prison population but 5% of
the total population, is perhaps too knotty for a 800-word writeup but for
those working in the trenches it can be frustrating.
As the strike enters its second week, perhaps major media outlets and cable
news will take a cue from activist media and the Wall Street Journal (whose
report [11] is worth reading) and shine a light, if only briefly, on the
largest prison strike in history. If not, Crispino feels other tactics will
eventually become more commonplace.
"I almost want to say, the mainstream media is complicit if there's
violence. The message they are sending to striking workers is, we will only
give you coverage if things turn ugly."
Adam Johnson is a contributing analyst at FAIR and contributing writer for
AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter @AdamJohnsonNYC [21].
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________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/media/did-you-know-we-are-having-largest-prison-stri
ke-history-probably-not-because-most-media-have
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/adam-johnson-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/09/12/battle-of-body-doubles-moo
s-pkg-erin.cnn
[4]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/fashion/women-hair-trend-buzz-cuts-confide
nce.html
[5]
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/world-exclusive-1st-trailer-disney
s-moana-42107816
[6]
https://www.thenation.com/article/this-week-may-see-the-largest-prison-strik
e-in-us-history/
[7]
http://www.citylab.com/crime/2016/09/the-largest-prison-strike-in-american-h
istory-is-happening-right-now/499409/
[8]
https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/09/inmates-coordinate-nationwide-prison-str
ike/
[9] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-prisoners-nationwide-are-striking/
[10]
https://www.buzzfeed.com/coralewis/prison-strike-begins-in-florida-alabama-a
nd-north-carolina
[11]
http://www.wsj.com/articles/prisoners-stage-coordinated-strikes-in-several-s
tates-1473895389
[12] https://iwoc.noblogs.org/
[13]
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/dca1962d120b4b069c0436280ad62bd1/oil-pipeline
-protest-turns-violent-southern-north-dakota
[14] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/12/us/12tribes.html
[15] http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/05/us/dakota-access-pipeline/
[16]
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-denies-tribe-s-request-hal
t-dakota-access-pipeline-n645616
[17] http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article100618707.html
[18] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/solitary-nation/
[19] https://www.rt.com/usa/358870-prison-protests-work-strike/
[20] https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/774222475433500673
[21] https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC
[22] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Did You Know We Are
Having the Largest Prison Strike in History? Probably Not, Because Most of
the Media Have Ignored It
[23] http://www.alternet.org/
[24] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Did You Know We Are Having the Largest Prison Strike in History?
Probably Not, Because Most of the Media Have Ignored It
Did You Know We Are Having the Largest Prison Strike in History? Probably
Not, Because Most of the Media Have Ignored It
By Adam Johnson [1] / AlterNet [2]
September 16, 2016
AddThis Sharing Buttons
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Email
Thousands of prisoners in over 24 states began a labor strike on September
9, the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, to demand better
conditions and healthcare, the right to unionize and what one organizing
group calls an "end to slavery in America." But one would hardly know it
watching major U.S. media, which has mostly ignored the largest prison labor
strike in history. One week on, the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC
News, ABC News, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and NPR have not covered the prison
strikes at all.
In the same time period since the strike began, CNN has run stories on
Clinton's "body double [3]," the New York Times ran a piece on women getting
buzzcuts [4] and ABC News had an "exclusive trailer [5]" for its parent
corporation Disney's upcoming film. There was certainly enough airtime and
column inches to mention that workers had coordinated a national strike of
unprecedented scale, but for these outlets the coverage has been
nonexistent.
A handful of national outlets have covered the strike: The Nation [6], City
Lab [7], Engadget [8], Money Watch [9], Buzzfeed [10], and as of Thursday,
the Wall Street Journal [11], but every other major publication, network
news and cable network has thus far been silent.
When we spoke by phone, Azzurra Crispino, media co-chair of Incarcerated
Workers Organizing Committee [12], one of the strike organizers, was
hesitant to be too hard on the press out of hope the strikes would lose
coverage in the future. But after some prompting, the four-year prison
abolitionist veteran listed a few measured grievances at the media. Her most
consistent theme was that to the extent the strikes were being covered, the
focus was on spectacle over substance, and in doing so the media was making
nonviolent resistance all but impossible.
"I'm a pacifist, I would like to see the strikes remain nonviolent,"
Crispino told AlterNet. "Yet in terms of the mainstream press coverage when
there's blood on the ground the prisons have to fill out reports that guards
were hurt so then they can't deny strikes occurred," she said in reference
to the stonewalling of prison officials. The few reporters Crispino had
spoken to said most prison spokespeople denied any strikes were taking
place. "Between prisoners and TDCJ [Texas Department of Criminal Justice],
who do you think reporters are going to believe?" she asked.
The power asymmetry and the media's default position of siding with
government officials over those seen as criminals creates just one more
barrier to coverage. At its core, coverage of the prison strikes, as with
any protest action, has an inherently perverse incentive structure that puts
a premium on acts of violence and property damage and overlooks
non-telegenic peaceful activity, such as hunger strikes and labor stoppages.
This dynamic was seen [13] in the Standing Rock incident on September 3,
when private security sicced dogs on Native American activists protesting an
oil pipeline, and pictures of injured protesters went viral on social media.
At the time, only Democracy Now, a relatively small left-wing news show, and
AP and UPI filed original reports on the incident. Days after what the media
called "clashes," articles appeared with far greater frequency, including in
major outlets like New York Times [14], CNN [15] and NBC [16].
This warped incentive structure is even more pronounced in prisons, which
are by definition cut off from society. The only time anyone bothers to
notice prisons is when demonstrably violent action takes place.
"Which of the strikes are getting the most attention? Florida because
they're violent," Crispino says, in reference to the September 7 uprising
[17] at Homes Correctional facility in the Florida panhandle. "They can't
deny in Florida because prisoners are setting things on fire and there's
been so much structural damage they can't deny strikes are occurring."
A similar dynamic is at work when prisoners are in solitary confinement or
engage in body mutilation or destruction of property, often [18] by flooding
their cells or covering them with feces or blood. Similarly, Crispino
contends, each time the media ignores peaceful activities, it tips the
scales further in the direction of fires, property damage and rioting.
But this reason doesn't fully explain the lack of mainstream coverage. A few
outlets, as noted, have covered the strike to the extent they could,
especially in the buildup to the protest, so it's not as if there wasn't
enough information to compile a story.
One possible reason is that some of corporate media's biggest advertisers
use prison labor, so the disincentive to shine a light on the problem is
high. AT&T, Bank of America, Chevron, Eli Lilly, GEICO, McDonald's, and
Walmart all use prison labor and all are sponsors of corporate media so much
we can recite their commercials by heart. One corporation that uses prison
labor, Verizon, even owns major media outlets Yahoo and Huffington Post.
Russia Today, a Moscow-funded media outlet, was the only cable news network
to speak with Crispino, and to the best of her knowledge, the only one to
cover the strikes [19]. When Donald Trump appeared on RT last week, there
was a frenzy of outrage by mainstream pundits, with some questioning why
Trump would give credence to "Russian government-controlled propaganda
[20]." RT's position has always been that it covers stories the mainstream
press doesn't, and while some may see this as a cynical marketing ploy, in
the case of the prison strikes it also happens to be true.
Another issue for IWOC is that all the coverage thus far, even in
sympathetic outlets, has ignored their broader political aims, which is
prison abolition, not reform.
"The IWOC is an abolitionist organization," Crispino said. "Abolition is
pretty much completely ignored. It's interesting because people ask
questions about that and they ask what would you do instead, but no one
wants to hear that and they never write about it." That the media is
allergic to ideology, to having deeper discussions about our society's core
axioms and why the U.S. has 25% of the world's prison population but 5% of
the total population, is perhaps too knotty for a 800-word writeup but for
those working in the trenches it can be frustrating.
As the strike enters its second week, perhaps major media outlets and cable
news will take a cue from activist media and the Wall Street Journal (whose
report [11] is worth reading) and shine a light, if only briefly, on the
largest prison strike in history. If not, Crispino feels other tactics will
eventually become more commonplace.
"I almost want to say, the mainstream media is complicit if there's
violence. The message they are sending to striking workers is, we will only
give you coverage if things turn ugly."
Adam Johnson is a contributing analyst at FAIR and contributing writer for
AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter @AdamJohnsonNYC [21].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [22]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[23]
Stay Ahead of the Rest
Sign Up for AlterNet's Daily Newsletter
EMAIL:
+ sign up for additional lists
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/media/did-you-know-we-are-having-largest-prison-stri
ke-history-probably-not-because-most-media-have
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/adam-johnson-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/09/12/battle-of-body-doubles-moo
s-pkg-erin.cnn
[4]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/fashion/women-hair-trend-buzz-cuts-confide
nce.html
[5]
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/world-exclusive-1st-trailer-disney
s-moana-42107816
[6]
https://www.thenation.com/article/this-week-may-see-the-largest-prison-strik
e-in-us-history/
[7]
http://www.citylab.com/crime/2016/09/the-largest-prison-strike-in-american-h
istory-is-happening-right-now/499409/
[8]
https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/09/inmates-coordinate-nationwide-prison-str
ike/
[9] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-prisoners-nationwide-are-striking/
[10]
https://www.buzzfeed.com/coralewis/prison-strike-begins-in-florida-alabama-a
nd-north-carolina
[11]
http://www.wsj.com/articles/prisoners-stage-coordinated-strikes-in-several-s
tates-1473895389
[12] https://iwoc.noblogs.org/
[13]
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/dca1962d120b4b069c0436280ad62bd1/oil-pipeline
-protest-turns-violent-southern-north-dakota
[14] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/12/us/12tribes.html
[15] http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/05/us/dakota-access-pipeline/
[16]
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-denies-tribe-s-request-hal
t-dakota-access-pipeline-n645616
[17] http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article100618707.html
[18] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/solitary-nation/
[19] https://www.rt.com/usa/358870-prison-protests-work-strike/
[20] https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/774222475433500673
[21] https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC
[22] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Did You Know We Are
Having the Largest Prison Strike in History? Probably Not, Because Most of
the Media Have Ignored It
[23] http://www.alternet.org/
[24] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
