NewsGuild: Top managers at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette must resign

June 12, 2020 – NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss has issued the following statement: 

I  have watched with disgust as top managers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette continue to fight their journalists and the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. Executive Editor Keith Burris and Managing Editor Karen Kane have shown outrageous insensitivity in directing coverage of protests of racism and police brutality, dismissed criticism from within their own newsroom and dehumanized their staff.  Continue reading “NewsGuild: Top managers at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette must resign”

CWA, NewsGuild join ACLU class-action complaint against Minneapolis, Minnesota law enforcement agencies

Suit accuses officials of deliberately targeting journalists in violation of First Amendment

Updated June 10, 2020, 11 a.m.Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright issued an order last night denying the motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and for class certification. We are still digesting the ruling, but it is clearly a disappointment. The Court did not consider the amended complaint in making its decision. Fortunately, both motions were denied without prejudice. “We will continue the fight,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss.

June 9, 2020 – The Communications Workers of America and The NewsGuild-CWA joined a class-action lawsuit on Monday against Minneapolis and Minnesota law enforcement agencies, accusing them of deliberately targeting, assaulting, and arresting journalists as they covered protests following the police killing of George Floyd. The lawsuit, initiated by the ACLU-MN, was filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota on June 3. Continue reading “CWA, NewsGuild join ACLU class-action complaint against Minneapolis, Minnesota law enforcement agencies”

Denouncing management decisions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

June 8, 2020 – NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss and CWA District 2-13 Vice President Ed Mooney denounced racist actions by management of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette statement, which barred two prominent Black journalists from covering protests after the death of George Floyd and retaliated against other newsroom employees who supported them.

In response to management’s actions, NewsGuild members launched a letter campaign seeking Support for Post-Gazette Black Journalists.  Continue reading “Denouncing management decisions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette”

NewsGuild joins call to MN officials: End arrests, attacks on journalists

June 3, 2020 – The NewsGuild-CWA  joined more than 100 news organizations on June 2 to call on Minnesota officials to “end the series of police arrests and attacks on credentialed and clearly identifiable journalists.”

“Police have arrested, detained, and threatened journalists, and have physically assaulted them with rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas, batons, and fists. In every case that we are aware of, there are strong indications that officers knew the journalist was a member of the press,” the organizations wrote, in a letter initiated by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Continue reading “NewsGuild joins call to MN officials: End arrests, attacks on journalists”

‘No place in our democracy.’ NewsGuild condemns arrests, assaults on journalists.

June 1, 2020 – More than 100 journalists were arrested and assaulted by law enforcement over the weekend while covering unrest across the country, according to the Harvard’s Nieman Lab. Among them were a Los Angeles Times reporter who was tear gassed at point-blank range, a freelance reporter who was permanently blinded in her left eye after being struck with rubber bullets, and a photojournalist for WCCO TV, who was struck with a rubber bullet and taken into custody by Minnesota State Patrol. And millions watched CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his crew get arrested on live television.

“I was disturbed to see blatant attacks on our press freedom over the weekend. From Fox News to MSNBC, from Minneapolis to Louisville, journalists were among those singled out for simply doing their job — covering protests following the death of George Floyd. Attacks against members of the press, violence against Black communities and brutality against peaceful protesters have no place in our democracy,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss.

Continue reading “‘No place in our democracy.’ NewsGuild condemns arrests, assaults on journalists.”