What We're Up Against...

This was sent to me by a writer who wishes to remain anonymous. -JA

So, did you hear about the big WGA rally Friday? Unfortunately, if you weren't there, the answer is probably no.

After attending Friday's very inspiring and impressive event two days ago, I sat down at 11 p.m. that night to watch the Channel 4 news. I couldn't wait to see the coverage.

But wait I did.

And wait.

Past the segment about stolen copper causing a street light to be out on a popular bike path.

Then I waited some more.

Past some story about cats brought in to chase rodents at a police station (I'm not kidding). Until about 11:29 when they had -- no joke -- a 15 second snippet.

Yeah, yeah, I know KNBC is owned by one of the companies on the other side of the negotiating table. But come on!

You're telling me when 4,000 people show up in the streets of LA, shut down a main thoroughfare in the city, a laundry list of celebrities are on hand, Jesse Jackson addresses the crowd and the subject is an industry-wide strike some experts say could cost the local economy hundreds of millions of dollars, such an event only warrants 15 seconds at the end of the newscast?

Wow. I mean... wow.

You think if 4,000 striking UAW members took to the streets of Detroit after shutting down the automobile industry, it might make the local news before the high school football scores?

On the positive side, you'll be happy to know the cats are proving to be very successful at catching the rats. I know this because that segment was about four times longer than the one 20 minutes later dealing with a story that could affect the entire economy of Southern California.

Just my two cents... because four cents would be a stumbling block.

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The author of the above is but one of many people be outraged by the lack of coverage. Darling Nikki called out the LA Times. I received email reports on how the other channels' news fared. Jeffrey writes:

Channel 7 and Channel 2 were no better. Each gave the rally less than 30 seconds of air time. But hey, Channel 2 did devote five minutes of air time on a segment about a rare killer amoeba. So in the larger scheme I guess Hollywood writers are lower than amoebas.

Elaine writes:

We saw something far more compelling as the lead story on our 6:00 news broadcast. Dangerous Glass Coffee Tables. Now that's news!