The Way We Were

The way we were; the way it was - is not coming back.

What was, back then - from the birth of television and into this new century -  kept running through my head at a labor meeting tonight, called to fight  against a new owner's insistence that all labor unions at KING Broadcasting agree to new jurisdictional language, the short of which is that unions will be much weaker, perhaps out of business, and that the age we knew - of professional photographers, experienced journalists, and a staff of tested engineers - will swiftly vanish.

The impulse - immediate - is to fight for the way it was - unions representing employees meeting with management (the KING management back in the way it was believed in organized labor; a management that, while tough at the table, knew that better products come out of a workplace treated with respect and fairness) to hash out working conditions, pensions, health care, pay, etc.  But the nagging thought is that we're in a different time.

 KINGTV then was family, the Bullitt family.  We could bargain across that table knowing the goal of better journalism and a workplace that could produce it was shared - with respect.  Now, a national corporation owning 23 TV stations is in charge and - as City Council Member Sawant (not always my favorite, but she was right tonight) said, consolidation and corporate power over local television and much else is on the rise.  She and Council Member Licata argued for organizing, pressuring legislators, using media - good on paper and yes, even a suggested city council resolution could help -  but I wonder if we can go back.

When I began in local journalism, the sources for news were countable on a single hand; now we have one less newspaper but also a smartphone full of news sources, and new breeds of journalist/writers who fill a Crosscut, a Politico, a Stranger and much more.  Information is a constant throb, a digital river, pulsing on your device of choice.  As a long-time news junkie, there's no way I can keep track of it all.

As a former shop steward and long time union member, as an employee who negotiated contracts and once threatened a strike, I know that the technological changes of this century will shift the makeup of local TV news, pushing it more on-line, changing its formats - more streaming and less of the actual news hour on a set time and channel - as they are changing the delivery of film, television, music, books, groceries, etc.  We're not at the same bargaining table.

This is long enough, and I hope will spark some conversation.  The problem discussed by broadcast jouranlists at Kane Hall tonight is real - unions are under threat, jobs as we've known them are in jeopardy, professionals may become low pay interns if they survive at all - but I doubt the old strategies can turn that around.  The way it was, the way we were, won't come back.

We didn't discuss a model for our time, this time and century - but workers everywhere, not just inside newsrooms, will need one.

And soon.