However, the article covering their impressive victory was horrendously prejudiced and misleading, making it sound as if the strikers were violent criminals. Don't take my word for it; here's the first sentence of the article.
A four-month strike marked by several violent incidents and arrests ended peacefully yesterday when workers at the Shaw's distribution center ratified a new contract.Unfortunately, the Eagle Tribune doesn't follow up on the "violent incidents" written in that lead until the end of the article, with two of its final three paragraphs on the strike:
Methuen police maintained a 24-hour detail to keep the peace at the picket line outside the warehouse. The officers directed traffic for delivery trucks and workers who crossed the picket line.Why is it that the mainstream media, even the local variety, almost always portrays activists engaging in non-violent civil disobedience as violent criminals, if it covers them at all?
Police arrested a truck driver who waved his middle finger at yelling strikers and then drove his truck at a police sergeant on March 30. A month later, police arrested another trucker who spat at a striker.
Given that almost no one reads until the end of a newspaper article, the lead in this story was completely irresponsible. If the Eagle Tribune wasn't going to clarify exactly what it meant by a strike "marked by several violent incidents" right at the beginning of its article, it shouldn't have included that sensationalist introduction at all.
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