An injunction now bars the Trump administration from assaulting journalists in Southern California. On September 10 we won a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs & Border Protection, from brutalizing journalists, legal observers and protestors.
“In these historic times, when press freedoms are under attack, this decision is a powerful reminder that journalists must be protected, not met with violence,” said Ryanne Mena, a Guild member, journalist and plaintiff in the case. “By granting this relief, the court has affirmed the journalistic duty to our communities and the essential role of a free press.”
Judge Hernán Vera wrote that “the record includes detailed and credible declarations from nearly 50 journalists, legal observers, and protesters,” which showed DHS retaliation against people for protesting against and reporting on the violent immigration raids in Southern California.
We joined this lawsuit alongside our members, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Los Angeles Press Club and several other groups.
DHS is also threatening our members in another way. Dozens of our members in the United States are from other countries and legally working under visas. DHS is proposing a rule change to reduce the duration of stays from five years down to just eight months. Any journalist knows that eight months is not enough time to develop sources, understand the news coverage area and get a sense for the culture. Many of our members in the states live with partners and children. The shorter duration would upend their lives.
We’d also likely see other countries retaliate and reduce the time allowed for U.S. journalists to work in another country. The rule change also impacts our Canadian members working in the U.S. and others, like our members at Agencia EFE, a Spanish news wire service.
“Many of our members at Agencia EFE wire service are on I visas and do important journalism for an international audience,” said Alejandra Arredondo Cárdenas, an EFE correspondent and our vice chair at the News Media Guild. “Please stand with us calling on DHS to withdraw its proposed change limiting the time international journalists can work in the U.S.”
The proposed rules from DHS are just the latest attack on press freedom in the United States. Take a couple of minutes and submit your own comment to the DHS saying why it’s important for the United States to be a beacon of press freedom and speech and shouldn’t restrict foreign journalists working in the U.S.
We’re also condemning the latest restriction by the Department of Defense, which is requiring journalists to pledge not to gather or use any information that had not been formally authorized for release or risk losing their credentials to cover the U.S. military.
The 17-page memo says that “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.” It also restricts the movement of journalists inside the Pentagon.
This is a direct assault on press freedom and violates the First Amendment right to a free press.
The U.S. Supreme Court was exceedingly clear in New York Times v. United States (1971) in granting the right for the Times to publish the Pentagon Paper without risk of government censorship or punishment.
Justices said that the government “carries a heavy burden of showing justification for the imposition of such a restraint” in their ruling allowing the Times to publish the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the U.S. had secretly enlarged the scope of its actions during the Vietnam War.
We stand with journalists covering the U.S. military domestically and abroad. They put their lives at risk to bring us coverage of the most powerful military on the planet. That military must be held to account by a free and independent press.
Jimmy Kimmel is back on air, but several broadcasters refuse to carry the show. I was recently on The Rick Smith Show and we discussed the recent attacks on press freedom and journalists in the U.S.
Nexstar, which owns more than 200 stations across 116 U.S. markets, is one of those broadcasters. It’s currently working to buy Tegna, another local TV operator, and it will need approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Two years ago, we blew up a hedge fund’s attempt to buy Tegna, destroying an $8.6 billion deal. Hedge funds and consolidation have murdered the newspaper industry both in the U.S. and Canada, and we fought to prevent that from happening in broadcast.
It’s clear that Nexstar’s reasons for banning the Jimmy Kimmel show are an attempt to curry favor with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who led the domino effect of broadcasters putting pressure on ABC to take Kimmel off the air. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told a right-wing podcaster. “These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Nexstar’s attempt to take over Tegna would also require an overhaul of FCC ownership rules, which limit monopolies or one broadcaster reaching more than 39% of all U.S. TV households. Nexstar’s bid to gobble up Tegna would increase its reach to 80% of households.
Nexstar has a history of appeasing the Trump administration. In December 2023 The Hill, one of our newspapers owned by Nexstar, fired a journalist to avoid a lawsuit brought by Trump’s Truth Social.
We oppose this takeover attempt and the disturbing behavior by Nexstar in seeking to curry favor by silencing free speech. Nexstar needs to wake up and realize that contorting itself to curry favor with the government undermines its independence and core American freedoms.
Unfortunately, this month Nexstar laid off 6 Hill members. An additional 12 members took buyouts. “Their work has informed, inspired and held power to account,” The Hill Guild said on X. Hill journalists unionized with us in 2022 and won a first contract in July. At least they had more protections after unionizing together and winning a collective agreement. But it’s a damn shame Nexstar is bending the knee like too many news bosses.
Other news bosses bending the knee? The Washington Post. In the past they’ve fought the U.S. government’s attempt to compel a free press. But last week they fired columnist Karen Attiah. The Post wrongly fired Attiah over her social media posts. The Post not only flagrantly disregarded standard disciplinary processes, it also undermined its own mandate to be a champion of free speech.
“The right to speak freely is the ultimate personal liberty and the foundation of Karen’s 11-year career at The Post,” the Washington Post Guild said on Bluesky. “We’re proud to call Karen a colleague and a longtime union sibling. The Post Guild stands with her and will continue to support her and defend her rights.”
Read Attiah’s own words about her termination. This week the Guild filed a grievance over her termination and she’s separately retained lawyers.
Count me and the rest of the Guild in standing with Karen Attiah as we fight with her and the Washington-Baltimore News Guild for justice and fair treatment.
Baltimore Sun Guild members joined The Majority Report with Sam Seder this week to expose management’s latest union-busting tactic: a “non-disparagement” clause that would gag journalists from speaking out about their working conditions or criticizing Sinclair’s takeover of the paper.
“They want to silence us by putting a non-disparagement clause in our union contract,” said Sun Guild members Hannah Gaskill and Dan Belson.
“This goes into effect on Sunday. We’re only ‘allowed to talk’ for so much longer, and it’s pretty illegal.”
🎧Listen to the full segment here.
Last week I was in New York for a celebration of Investigative Reporters & Editors 50 years in existence. I’ve been a longtime member (more on the data journalism side/NICAR) and was thrilled to support IRE’s longtime work to train up multiple generations of watchdog and investigative journalists. We had a table with 10 Guild activists from the NewsGuild of New York.
And we had dozens of members outside leafleting in support of ProPublica’s first contract fight. What seems so strange to me, ProPublica has violated the law by refusing to honor the Weingarten Rights for our members in meetings that could lead to discipline.
ProPublica editors should do the right thing and agree to a fair contract and to follow federal law.
Do you agree? Add your name to the journalists’ petition.
The Military.com News Guild says that the news site is “effectively dead” after mass layoffs by new owner Valnet. Talented journalists — including several veterans — were fired or pushed out last week, dismantling the team that made Military.com the leading source for military and veteran news.
Valnet had begun publishing articles by freelancers with little-to-no journalism experience, a shift that workers say signals a move away from hard news. A small contingent of staff remains, still part of the bargaining unit and ready to negotiate a fair contract despite Valnet’s union-busting.
Several Guild locals donated their $1,000 CWA organizing prizes to support striking journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — the longest strike in the country, now nearly three years in. The NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia, Pacific Media Workers Guild, the Washington-Baltimore News Guild and NewsGuild of New York all redirected their awards to help ease strikers’ expenses, alongside a $1,000 contribution from the small but mighty Kingston Newspaper Guild.
“A union is one big family, and when one unit suffers, we all suffer and need to pitch in,” said Diane Mastrull, president of the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia.
Zack Tanner, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, added: “The generosity of so many shows employers everywhere that they are not just dealing with one local — they are dealing with the entire NewsGuild and CWA.”
EdWeek Union is pushing for fair pay after 17 months at the bargaining table. Roughly 50 staff — including reporters, videographers, designers and digital staff — are demanding a $65,000 salary floor and guaranteed 3.5% annual raises. Management has countered with just 1-1.5% increases despite the cost of living in the D.C. area topping $100k.
Workers point out that a fair raise would cost Edweek about $140,000 – less than half the salary of their CEO, who takes home more than $500,000 a year.
“Our lowest-paid employee makes less than $45,000. We don’t want horses. We need groceries,” members said in a statement on social media.
Join us for the next Steward Training: A Communicator and Educator on Wednesday, October 2, from 7-9 p.m. ET.
This session will focus on how stewards drive the exchange of information and uphold organizing culture throughout their union. All stewards and members interested in learning these skills are encouraged to attend.
▶️Register here.
We’re on Bluesky. Are you? It’s pretty clear that X (formerly Twitter) is suppressing the reach of certain accounts, including those from news organizations, journalists and unions. Follow us and we’ll follow you back.
In solidarity,
Jon Schleuss
President
The NewsGuild-CWA