{"id":376094,"date":"2018-09-04T20:28:43","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T19:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/new-tactics-pay-off-in-mainstream-coverage\/"},"modified":"2018-09-04T20:28:43","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T19:28:43","slug":"new-tactics-pay-off-in-mainstream-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/new-tactics-pay-off-in-mainstream-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"New Tactics Pay Off in Mainstream Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"introtext\">\u201cFundamentally, it\u2019s a human rights issue. Prisoners understand they are being treated as animals. Prisons in America are a warzone. Every day prisoners are harmed due to conditions of confinement. For some of us it\u2019s as if we are already dead, so what do we have to lose?\u201d \u2013Pre-strike <span><a href=\"https:\/\/itsgoingdown.org\/pre-strike-statement-from-jailhouse-lawyers-speak\/\">statement<\/a><\/span> from Jailhouse Lawyers Speak<\/aside>\n<p>When the 2016 US prison strike kicked off, the media barely whispered. Despite efforts by the <span><a href=\"https:\/\/freealabamamovement.wordpress.com\/\">Free Alabama Movement<\/a><\/span>, an organization centered around the men inside Holman prison, to spread the message through social media and compelling <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1gaICtjixMo\">video<\/a><\/span> footage taken inside prisons, mainstream journalists weren\u2019t biting. While <span><a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/we-re-freedom-fighters-the-story-of-the-nationwide-prison-labor-strike\/\">independent media outlets covered the strike<\/a><\/span>, an action that ultimately involved thousands of people in two dozen states drew virtual silence from mainstream media.<\/p>\n<p>With the current ongoing prison strike, we find a totally different scenario. <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/08\/26\/us\/national-prison-strike-2018.html\">The New York Times<\/a><\/span>, the <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2018\/aug\/20\/prison-labor-protest-america-jailhouse-lawyers-speak\">Guardian<\/a><\/span>, <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2018\/08\/animals-prisoners-gear-nationwide-strike-180820145529741.html\">Al Jazeera<\/a><\/span> and The <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2018\/08\/21\/inmates-across-us-are-staging-prison-strike-over-modern-day-slavery\/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.27dbdbf59c76\">Washington Post<\/a><\/span> all ran sympathetic op-eds at the strike\u2019s outset. MSNBC\u2019s Al Sharpton had a <span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/politicsnation\/watch\/prison-strike-2018-1306705987628?v=raila\">segment<\/a><\/span> on the strike in which he interviewed a formerly incarcerated man (Darren Mack). <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/2018\/08\/22\/prison-strike-sparks-nationwide-protests\/1065723002\/\">USA Today ran an article<\/a><\/span> on support demonstrations. Suddenly, prison militancy has become headline-worthy. As someone who spent six-and-a-half years behind bars, I have to wonder: What the hell is going on?<\/p>\n<div class=\"banner_wrapper\" style=\"\">\n<div id=\"banner-247291\" class=\"banner subscribe-banner  banner-247291 bottom vert custom-banners-theme-default_style\" style=\"\"><a class=\"custom_banners_big_link\" href=\"#\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"banner_caption\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"banner_caption_inner\">\n<div class=\"banner_caption_text\" style=\"\">\n<p><strong>Never miss another story<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>Testament to Hard Work<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Several factors are at play here. First, as prison historian Dan Berger observes, \u201cit is a testament to the hard work that has been happening.\u201d Due to the efforts of millions of activists, mass incarceration has grown into an issue of political importance. We have national campaigns to <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/blog\/smart-justice\/we-cant-end-mass-incarceration-without-ending-money-bail\">end<\/a><\/span> cash bail, local efforts to <span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.closerikers.org\/\">close<\/a><\/span> jails, <span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blackandpink.org\/\">networks<\/a><\/span> formed to defend the rights of LGBTQ folks who are locked up, and massive <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.immigrantdefenseproject.org\/community-stop-deportation\/\">resistance<\/a><\/span> to immigration detention and deportation. Organizations of formerly incarcerated people like <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prisonerswithchildren.org\/our-projects\/allofus-or-none\/\">All of Us or None<\/a><\/span>, <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justleadershipusa.org\/\">JustLeadershipUSA<\/a><\/span>&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/inside-the-prison-labor-strike-new-tactics-pay-off-in-mainstream-coverage\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cFundamentally, it\u2019s a human rights issue. Prisoners understand they are being treated as animals. Prisons in America are a warzone. Every day prisoners are harmed due to conditions of confinement. For some of us it\u2019s as if we are already dead, so what do we have to lose?\u201d \u2013Pre-strike statement from Jailhouse Lawyers Speak When [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-376094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}