Writer’s strike now a p.r. war
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Both the WGA and the producers are locked in a spin-control battle, with the hearts and mind of the public at stake. But what exactly does the winner get?
WHEN images of the writers strike first popped into the public consciousness, Hollywood outsiders got an impression of two sides in some sort of vague but nasty fight.
On one side were the red-shirted writers and their handsome celebrity supporters waving old-fashioned placards, calling themselves ‘labor’ and asking for their ‘fair share.’ On the other, a bit more murkily, were the corporate suits, talking reassuringly but perhaps coolly about profits and the future of technology.
After one week, there was no doubt who was winning the public-image face off. Two surveys, one national and one local, showed that roughly two-thirds were taking the writers’ side in the dispute. In a Pepperdine University survey, only 4% favored the studios; in a local ABC7 News Poll conducted by SurveyUSA, 8% took the side of producers. The rest weren’t exactly sure what was going on with the strike.
In a time of economic anxiety, the general public clearly sympathized with the placard wavers on the street, even if some drive fancier cars or lunch with the Hollywood elite. Yet it wasn’t clear how much of that support was due to shared fears of an uncertain future or public-relations campaigns in one of the nation’s highest-profile labor spats in recent years. Nor was it clear what exactly a PR advantage would provide and how long it might last.
--Lynn Smith