ABSTRACT
In the confused debate over the news, one of the commonest charges made against the media is that of ‘superficiality’ in industrial coverage. Dispute reporting, it is said, concentrates on the ‘effects’ of union action to the neglect of its underlying causes. The result is that in the absence of essential background information the activities of strikers, which might otherwise appear quite rational and reasonable, are presented to the public as sensational. Underlying such complaints is perhaps a fear of ‘trial by television’, and the trial analogy is not inapt, especially since such media ‘trials’ tend to ignore the motives of those publicly accused.
