Part Three:
Project a Positive Image of the Labor movement on a 24/7 Basis Every Week of the Year
With an investment of $200 million, the AFL-CIO and its affiliates could create its own cable news and info-entertainment network. What organized labor now lacks is a message delivery platform that reflects the advances in communication technology over the last fifty years.
When kids, women, tennis players, computer gamers, Trivia and Dallas Cowboy fans, Hispanics, the National Rifle Association and international travelers – all have their own cable television channel, organized labor must have one also.
When Ronald Reagan’s Rasputin, Roger Ailes, can create FOX News, Fox News Channel, CNBC, and MSNBC and a host of other cable news shows tied to General Electric, then the labor movement must fund a message delivery platform where the Internet, cable television, satellite radio and news come together.
Forget about aping what the Republicans did in the last election. A portal like MSNBC is what Corporate America is investing in today – the future of domestic and international communications – where they can provide wall-to-wall, primetime programming that parallels and parrots their corporate agenda and philosophy.
The AFL-CIO and its affiliates, with their 5.5 BILLION dollars in total assets and their 6.7 BILLION dollars in disbursements each year, can readily afford to finance such a labor news and info-entertainment network. The return on that investment would be a focus on working families and the challenges they face and an opportunity to reinforce the message that union members live better.