Working people are also nearly invisible in television entertainment programming. Public television doesn't do much better, according to a study of two years of PBS prime-time programming by City University of New York's Committee for Cultural Studies. In the few cases in which work and class are featured in the media, the role of corporate decision-making in workers' lives in rarely included. A recent feature in The New York Times on. Layoffs, cuts in benefits and other attacks on workers' standard of living are reported by most of the media as if these corporate actions are like the weather - they just happen, without anyone being responsible.
Workers joining together to seek solutions seems to be a taboo subject as well.
Readers were never told that, on average, America's 13 million unionized workers have negotiated 44 percent more in employer contributions for health insurance than nonunion employers provide. When unions are mentioned In the media, it usually is in a negative light. Workers' wage rates are usually mentioned, but not executive pay or stockholder wealth. A number of factors contribute to media bias on issues of work and class. One is that the news media are owned by big corporations with strong interests and opinions.