Sample Essay On Media And Social Movement

The media plays a vital role in the dissemination of information within the society. The relaying of information plays a critical role for social movements that are keen on spreading their ideologies and objectives. This illustrates why the activists within the US National labor union adopted mass protests as a core way of attracting the media’s attention. Since time immemorial protests have been the most effective kind of ways of attaining both social and media attention. Through protests televised or reported on the media, the US National Labor activities managed to be highlight their issues to a greater audience that often than not seeks to understand their quest and ideas.
In order to fully comprehend the role of media in advancing the course of the US National Labor Union as a social movement, it is prudent to focus on its two types: alternative and mainstream. The alternative media usually has a limited outreach and is mostly polarized towards certain issues. The mainstream media, on the other hand, entails media that disseminates information through the biggest distribution channels and represents what a large section of the media consumers may stumble upon. The mainstream in this case has been integral in highlighting the agitation of the US National Labor Union both negatively and positively.
In August 20, 1866, the mainstream was instrumental in positively sensitizing the public about the movement’s efforts in advocating for the eight-hour workday policy in various workplaces across America. Newspapers such as Chicago Tribune were key in providing a platform for the labor activists to pressure the congress for reforms regarding the working hours. It was a long struggle with the reforms taking course only in 1870s after heightened public awareness courtesy of the mainstream media. Despite positively portraying the NLU on some issues, the mainstream media were linked to the unfair bias towards certain ideologies that were against the advancement of workers. The republican owned mainstream media in the early years of the union was highly against the agitation of equal worker rights for the black laborers. The mainstream media portrayed the National Labor Union as keen on trampling the white supremacy in United States by pushing for the civil rights of its Black members. The mainstream media being highly patriarchal was also accused of not effectively highlighting the rights of women workers in the 18th century.
Alternative media, on the other hand, such as the Brotherhood Locomotive Engineers Journal, a monthly magazine was key in reporting much of the National Labor’s issues. The magazine was instrumental in stressing the role of the Labor Union in advocating for social courses in America. The magazine carried out interviews with various leaders of labor movements in order to open the public to their ideas and objectives pertaining to worker rights. However, other alternative media platforms such as magazines were critical of the National Labor Union for its stance on issues that were deemed keen on disturbing social order. Advocacy of women and black workers’ rights made the Labor Union to be dubbed as a rubble rouser by many 18th-century magazines in their social commentaries.
The media in the 18th century was not very accurate in regards to capturing the Labor Union concerns on a number of issues. Being one of the early labor movements, the media did not fully embrace their critical approach to the government inadequacies. The media left out most of the information that it felt was too volatile or too sensitive to be disseminated to the public. Matters regarding the black civil rights were mostly given a blind eye ensuring that the greater public did not grasp the gist of the need to foster tolerance in the then American society. The media was however keen on highlighting mass strikes that crippled major industries in the country. The 1886 protests regarding the eight-hour work day reforms were greatly reported by various media outlets in America.
Using the hypotheses advanced by Wolfsfeld and Gamson in their article Movements and Media as Interacting Systems the interaction between the media and the Union can be further comprehended. The article notes that most social movement characteristics that affect media focus on movement sympathy, preferred framing and standing. All these hypotheses are observable in the history of the US National Labor Union and media interactions. The Labor Union ultimately tapped into the sympathetic nature of the society to highlight labor issues on both mainstream and alternative media platforms. The media has been integral in narrating the sad predicaments in the labor union courses to the public. Preferred farming, on the other hand, is observable in the movements structuring of protests and agitation aimed at creating awareness as well as pushing the authorities to action. Strong stance on labor issues is observable in the history of the US Labor Union which made its interaction with media much effective. The agitation of the eight work hour day reforms for workers managed to tap into all the three hypotheses. Through the help of the media, the union managed to tap into the public sympathy in order to push the congress for reforms. The issue was well framed incorporating professional opinions such as physicians and managerial experts in order to present comprehensive claims to the public via the available media platforms then. It is the loyal stand professed by the Union that managed to enhance its proactive interaction with the media regarding the eight-work-hours reforms.