Talk on "Labor's Struggle for a Voice: Union & Mass Media in the 20th Century" - Oct. 22

The University of Maine's Bureau of Labor Education will feature UMaine Professor Emeritus of History, Dr. Nathan Godfried to discuss the important and timely topic of Labor’s Struggle for a Voice: Unions and the Mass Media in the 20th Century as part of its Labor Spotlight Series Program. The program will be held on Thursday, October 22 from 3:00 PM - 4 PM at the Harmon Room on the first floor in Chadbourne Hall as well as on Zoom. Coffee and refreshments will be provided.

REGISTER HERE

Corporate media consolidation and government restrictions on free speech have been topics of debate for over a century. When film and broadcasting emerged, contemporary pundits imagined that these technologies could enhance democracy, obliterate class differences, and spread education and culture. Trade unionists soon realized a danger: an emerging monopoly of corporate-owned film studios, theaters, radio/television stations, and broadcast networks could spread their vested political and economic interests while distorting and offering malevolent depictions of organized labor. This talk explores how trade unions in the 20 century tried to develop their own oppositional voice, to control their own sources of information and education in service to working-class communities and the larger public.

Nathan Godfried is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Maine. He is the author of WCFL, Chicago’s Voice of Labor, 1926-78 and other books and articles on U.S. foreign policy, organized labor, the mass media, and political radicalism. He is completing a manuscript on the popular front social movement, radio news commentators, and U.S. politics during the mid-20th century.