If you turn to network television to get your news, don’t expect to hear much about labor unions or the lives of organized workers.

During the years of 2008, 2009 and 2011, less than 0.3 percent of news stories aired on four major news broadcasting networks involved labor unions or labor issues, according to analysis recently released by Federico Subervi, a professor of media markets at Texas State University.

Subervi’s team searched the Vanderbilt University Television News Archives and found that the four networks–NBC, ABC, CNN and CBS – aired a combined total of 172 news stories during the time period that involved labor unions or labor activist groups. During the three-year time period, the four networks aired an estimated total of 16,000 news stories annually, according to the report, which was funded by the Communications Workers of America and The Newspaper Guild. (Full disclosure: Truthout workers are organized under The Newspaper Guild.)

The National Association of Broadcasters, a lobby group that represents network and cable broadcasting stations, did not respond to a request for comment from Truthout.

CNN ranked last for labor coverage, with only 23 news items in the three-year period, despite the fact that the network has an hourly newscast. CNN’s media relations office in Washington DC did not respond to an inquiry from Truthout.

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