Contact:
WBEZ SAG-AFTRA Union: yourcpmunion@gmail.com
Chicago Sun-Times Guild: suntimesguild@gmail.com
CHICAGO – The Sun-Times Guild and the SAG-AFTRA units at WBEZ and Vocalo have held votes of no confidence in Matt Moog as Chicago Public Media CEO, Chicago Sun-Times president and a Chicago Sun-Times Media board member. The combined units overwhelmingly voted no confidence in Mr. Moog over the weekend: 86% of members took part in the vote, and 96% of those members – or 114 – voted no confidence.
In a letter Tuesday, the two unions informed Chicago Public Media’s Board of Directors of the vote of no confidence and reiterated their requests for the board to commit to:
- No layoffs, buyouts or other efforts to reduce headcount during the rest of Mr. Moog’s tenure;
- Mr. Moog’s immediate removal from his roles within the organization, along with the installation of an interim CEO;
- Absent his immediate departure, Mr. Moog’s removal from strategic and programming decisions or changes until his departure;
- Collaboration and engagement by the board with newsroom staff during this leadership transition and beyond;
- Greater board and financial transparency.
“Under Mr. Moog’s stewardship, we have seen a loss of talented and expert staffers and continued revenue declines, stunting our efforts to achieve sustainability even as we receive generous foundation support that should fuel growth,” the unions wrote in the joint letter to the board. “The lack of transparency and accountability in his leadership has led to mistrust among newsroom staff, and he has created unnecessarily combative relationships with our unions.
“We want to be clear: Our members are still optimistic and hopeful this merger between the Sun-Times and WBEZ can be a success. We are proud of our journalism and grateful for the belief and investment that our generous funders have maintained in our work. We owe it to them, to our readers and listeners and to ourselves to get this right. You have willing partners throughout our newsrooms ready to work with you.”
Chicago Public Media announced in April that 14 positions would be eliminated in involuntary layoffs across WBEZ and the Sun-Times. The cuts effectively decimated WBEZ’s podcast unit and sister station Vocalo. They follow newsroom positions previously going unfilled and programming cuts in the wake of Mr. Moog’s December resignation as CEO, effective upon the hiring of his replacement. Earlier this month, Chicago Public Media’s Board of Directors approved the Fiscal Year 2025 budget with a $1.14 million deficit.
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ABOUT THE SUN-TIMES GUILD
The Sun-Times unit of the Chicago News Guild is a labor union that has fought for its members’ rights since 1941. The Guild represents 81 reporters, visual journalists, copy editors, audience specialists, editors, designers and other newspaper media professionals at the Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago News Guild is Local 34071 of the Communication Workers of America.
ABOUT WBEZ AND VOCALO’S SAG-AFTRA UNITS
The content and tech units of the SAG-AFTRA labor union represent 62 reporters, producers, visual journalists, anchors, hosts, digital and technical operators at Chicago Public Media. The content unit was first certified in late 2013. The tech unit was certified in 2014.