April 24, 2020 – Members of the Blue Ridge NewsGuild, which represents journalists at the Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Va., voted 14-0 to ratify a first contract with Lee Enterprises, the union announced on Friday. The collective bargaining agreement is the first in the paper’s 127-year history. “A new era at the paper begins now,” the union declared. Continue reading “Blue Ridge NewsGuild members ratify first contract”
April 22, 2020 – Staffers at WIRED, a tech magazine and website, announced Wednesday they are forming a union. They will join employees of The New Yorker, Ars Technica and Pitchfork in the ranks of unionized Condé Nast publications and will become part of the NewsGuild of New York local. Continue reading “WIRED workers announce union campaign; seek to join organized ranks of Condé Nast publications”
April 20, 2020 – Pageant Media’s U.S. employees announced Monday that they are unionizing. The company has a niche audience and covers registered, private, credit and real estate investment sectors. Continue reading “Pageant Media’s U.S. workers announce union drive”
April 16, 2020 – Today Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio unveiled a proposal to support local media, calling for increased advertising spending by the federal government related to public health, tax credits to encourage newsroom hiring, an amendment to the tax code to allow news publications to become tax-exempt, and deferred-interest loans to newspapers, radio and TV stations.
“It’s a promising start and we look forward to working with members of Congress to keep journalists and media workers on the job right now while also not lining the pockets of hedge funds,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. “Newsrooms across the country are cutting pay and laying off workers in the middle of a pandemic when Americans need news coverage most.”
The proposal had 12 Democratic signers, including Representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Jared Huffman of California, Elaine Luria of Virginia and D.C.’s Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.
It follows news early Thursday that Republican Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan is urging congressional leaders to include the news industry in the next COVID-19 stimulus package.
And last week 19 senators called on Senate leaders to include funding for local journalism in any future stimulus package. “Local news is in a state of crisis that has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” they wrote. “Reliable local news and information has been critically important during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet it has become more scarce. Aid provisions “should be tailored to benefit aid recipients who make a long-term commitment to high quality local news,” the senators wrote.
Two weeks ago The NewsGuild announced a proposal for a news industry stimulus that would accomplish two things: save current jobs and grow community-focused journalism.
Since the NewsGuild unveiled its proposal, dozens of companies have announced layoffs and furloughs. The New York Times reported that 28,000 workers have been laid off, furloughed or had their pay reduced since the arrival of the coronavirus.
“At this moment, we must save the news jobs that communities depend on for coronavirus coverage,” Schleuss said. “As the nation shelters indoors Americans need to know which hospitals are at capacity, what local health officials are saying and how many of their neighbors have died from the pandemic.”
The Guild is working with Rep. Ryan’s office and other legislators to make sure any funding would go to benefit workers—not hedge funds and private equity groups that have pillaged the industry and endangered our communities prior to this pandemic.
Under the NewsGuild proposal, public support for news-gathering operations would be required to remain independent from partisan influence and would be prohibited from using public money for executive bonuses, dividends or golden parachutes.
Sign the Guild’s petition to include live-saving news in the next COVID-19 stimulus package.
The NewsGuild represents more than 24,000 journalists and other communications professionals at publications and digital sites across the U.S. and Canada. The NewsGuild is a sector of the Communications Workers of America.
Continue reading “More members of Congress support a news stimulus”
April 8, 2020 – The NewsGuild-CWA is pleased that 19 senators are asking Senate leaders to include funding to support local journalism and media in any future stimulus package.
“This is an important step in protecting life-saving news operations from devastation and we will work to win broad, bipartisan support for such a package,” said Jon Schleuss, president of The NewsGuild. Continue reading “NewsGuild praises senators’ call for funding for local journalism”
Journalists at the online nonprofit VTDigger – the state’s biggest newsroom – joined the surge in news industry union organizing on Monday to help secure the future of local reporting. Continue reading “VTDigger, Vermont’s biggest newsroom, joins union surge”
April 6, 2020 – With newsrooms around the country ravaged by fallout from the coronavirus, the employees of the Bradenton Herald have announced that they are unionizing. They asked McClatchy, the publication’s parent company, for voluntary recognition. Continue reading “Working for a sustainable future, Bradenton Herald employees announce union drive”
March 30, 2020 – “People need reliable local news during this crisis — they need to know where the tests are, which hospitals are overwhelmed and how many of their neighbors have died. They need reporters holding federal, state and local officials accountable,” NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss said on Monday. Continue reading “Gannett’s furloughs jeopardize the public’s health”
March 23, 2020 – Since the crisis began, The NewsGuild-CWA has been documenting and sharing employer responses with more than 200 of our local officers in the United States and Canada. Continue reading “What The NewsGuild is doing”
March 17, 2020 – Journalists at The Roanoke Times marked Lee Enterprises’ takeover of Warren Buffett’s BH Media Group on Monday with an announcement on Tuesday: They’re forming the Timesland News Guild, becoming the first to organize since the purchase was announced in January. Continue reading “Roanoke Times journalists mark Lee Enterprises takeover of BH Media with an announcement: We’re forming a union!”
