May 18th, 2009 
joel I must say that I’m a little perturbed about results of last week’s poll, which asked whether folks would be willing to pay for premium local content online. The “No” beat “Maybe” 60-40 with no one voting “Yes” with any certainty.
Now I know that these polls are not scientific and may have no relevance to what would happen when reality hits, but what frustrates me is that the same people who are not willing to pay for any content on the web are the ones paying $90 per month for cable/satellite, $75/month for cell service and $2.99 for a ring tone! Add that to the fact that the majority in an earlier poll refuse to click or even look at online advertising and you have an untenable business model for financing the production of content on the web.
Moving on: in the last couple days the NABET union representing workers at WSEE has taken a beating on the comments here at The Press and Tower for their apparent lack of protection of those jobs that are being eliminated this month. We have yet to hear first hand from union representatives regarding what role they did play in ensuring severance and other measures.
Meanwhile, let’s ask the question about the power of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, The Newspaper Guild, and others.
Given the massive media layoffs nationally and locally, on a scale of one to three, how relevant are media unions currently?
- 1: the unions are totally impotent in the current media environment and are getting rolled over by media owners (65%, 22 Votes)
- 2: the unions are arranging for some protections for current and laid off members (21%, 7 Votes)
- 3: the unions are totally engaged in the process despite the downturn and are saving members from conditions that could be much worse (14%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 34
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