Labor Journalism

Types

Throughout their history in the United States, three types of labor publications have predominated. The first are trade union periodicals published with union money and circulated mainly to union members. They serve as mouthpieces for union officials. Rather than independent labor publications, most labor journalism consists of magazines that individual unions publish. They serve as mouthpieces for their labor unions although they dispense information to other media that can lead to wider coverage. Among these publications are Solidarity, the national magazine of the United Auto Workers, The UMW Journal, a bimonthly publication of the United Mine Workers, and The American Educator, published by the American Federation of Teachers.

The second are party papers, published by political parties and intended to promote a social agenda connected with progressive politics. These publications were strongest in the early twentieth century, when political parties advocated worker reforms often influenced by world events.

The third type of publication was the independent newspaper unaffiliated with any political party and dependent on subscriptions for their survival. However, the close connection between worker rights and political activism has often blurred distinctions between the second and third types of labor publications. Today, independent labor newspapers, which rely on ideological fervor but depend on subscriptions and advertising for a profit, still survive, but not at the local level. Although they thrived for a time in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these local publications eventually disappeared due to lack of advertising support and the co-optation of many of their issues by the mainstream press.

Development

Labor journalism in this country began with the rise of publications concerned with reform in working conditions that depended on subscriptions and donations for their survival. Perhaps because of this content-advertising dichotomy, many of these publications proved short-lived. During the 1820s and 1830s, some 50 labor weeklies appeared, [Page 826]most of them in the rapidly industrializing northeastern United States. These not only advocated for better working conditions but also expanded to social commentary on topics such as the need for universal education. The Mechanic's Free Press, founded in 1828, in Philadelphia was the first labor newspaper. It folded after three years, though it did reach a circulation of 2,000. Other early papers included the Free Enquirer, published in New York from 1828 to 1835, and The Working Man's Advocate, published in New York from 1829 to 1849. The Advocate supported a ten-hour working day, universal suffrage, and improved public education. The paper also was critical of mainstream media, which it said had grown “fat” by oppressing the working class.

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