An oral history of the 1979 strike at the St. John's Evening Telegram

Abstract

This study presents an oral history of the 1979 strike by reporters against the St. John's Evening Telegram as they recounted it to me in private interviews. The oral historical method was combined with an approach derived from occupational folklore to allow the discovery not only of the strikers' interpretation of the historical event but to produce a more complete understanding of the ideals of the occupational group itself. -- While describing the strike, reporters revealed the exoteric attitudes they held towards newspaper owners as well as the esoteric beliefs they held towards their own jobs. The confrontation situation acted as a catalyst for the emergence of concerns that were always present but which might not normally have been expressed. -- In addition to analysis of narratives concerning the strike experience, and of the rhetorical use of anecdote, several behavioural theories have been employed. In interpreting the picket line behaviour as ritual action, an attempt is made to show why the line held such an emotional place in some of the reporters' accounts. Furthermore, in viewing the bar behaviour as "play," the importance is suggested of activities outside the workaday which provide a sense of cohesion to the occupational group. -- An oral history of a strike allows the folklorist special insight into the concerns of the occupational group involved. Not only does it allow for the study of how actual experiences were narrated and interpreted by those involved, it also allows for the study of the values of the profession as they are more intensively articulated during the strike itself.