The Writer's Weekly

Good morning one and all.

It's Tuesday and the day I have set aside to write about current events and issues in the media.

Well, we've all heard a lot about the writers' strike in the US. The strike crashed the Golden Globe awards and has silenced a lot of our favourite TV shows. (I have personally been watching reruns of Law & Order.)

Canada's privately owned TV networks, on the other hand, have not been affected by the strike. CTV and Global produce a lot of their own programming and CBC-TV is insulated from the strike too because they purchase very little of their prime-time programs from the US.

Something that I have noticed is that in the majority of the newspaper articles about the strike no one ever talks about what the writers want and why. It's always about ratings, ratings, ratings...and trying to not lose the whole season to the 'writers' strike.' As if the 'writers' strike' is an out-of-control entity that must be disciplined--but the networks just aren't sure how to do it!

Now, if you ask me the whole reason these shows exist and there are ratings is because writers are a very important part of the TV pie. No one seems to address that point however. (Imagine if the actors went on strike--the networks would be kissing their star-covered boots in no time.)

There's never any discussion about respecting the writers' skill and contribution to TV. I know, I know, the networks don't want to admit the writers are valuable because then they'll have to pay them more or give them more benefits (or any at all) or reduce their workloads.

Somehow, however, I feel that the networks are missing the point big time! Maybe, just maybe, the writers would really like to be acknowledged, not only monetarily, but also publicly. I mean being shushed and ignored and belittled never furthered any negotiation. And call me crazy but writers tend to be a pretty proud group of people.

I hear that the public is upset. The actors are out of work. The networks are angry.

I think the newspapers are just not covering the story. They're leaving out the central issue of the whole situation--what do the writers really want and why won't the network big wigs give it to them?