SUPPORT THE MINERS SUPPORT THE MINERS During the miners' strike, for the first time, large group of workers received the month period.
The gap between how miners their supporters saw what was go1n their communities, picket lines and at the meetings and rallies, and the way it was portrayed in the media led deep resentment frustration. "Shove vour camera up your arse' was a picket chant that often greeted the arrival of the news crews The strike proved to be a direct lesson for many neutrality arguments avoiding "bias' only resulted in it putting across the views or tnose were holding the power.
Some media WOrKCIS both broadcast A handful of supportive documentaries did make the screens (mainly on Channel 4).
The most interesting outside broadcast the strike a number tapes have been produced Active Image that try to build wider support in defence of the continuing attacks on the NUM. For example, Whose law? produced by Chapter Video of Cardiff, and Supporting the Miners produced the Miners Defence Video Project in This is not the end: Defend the victimised miners is a tape that was recently produced Active lllSouth Yoin the Minere , based in Rotherham, involved the Campaign Tapes during the strike, and have mainlocal support groups and defence campaigns.
The tape aims to publicise the victimisations to a general audience by means of a short proat meetings, programme that also ings out the role of the police, the Orgreave trials. the breakaway union and the move to privatisation Like many the groups doing. this kind of work, we don't receive any finance for it, so it is essentaken up and used by the widest possible audience to ensure that this work can continue Can your organisation use these tapes? • Contact: Active Image on 0709 67676; Miners Defence Video Project or 9964 and Čhapte Video Workshop on 0222 396061. Copies of This, is not the end are free miners support groups £10 other organisations to hire.
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daily attention of the mass media over a 12
working class people that the medias of neutrality
television and outside it strike and tried to put over
and committed program- mes were being produced television. Since the end of
gramme designed for use • and a longer