Save The News | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA

Union members, leaders and staff celebrate on Zoom after winning a first contract.

Newsletter: Guild members are winning so many contracts!

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We’ve been off the newsletter for the last couple of weeks because of the holiday, travel and some folks being off. And boy did a lot happen in two weeks since our last newsletter!

We were planning to say that WIRED workers were on strike yesterday and today, but late Monday night they inked a deal with Condé Nast for a three-year contract. They announced it on Twitter just a few minutes before midnight. More details will be out soon, but the group represents more than 55 workers at WIRED who unionized in April 2020. They went public then with 85% support and have run many collective actions increasing pressure on the company to settle.

This is how you do it. BUT—

Map of the U.S. with light and dark blue dots showing the concentration of newspapers.

Local news is in trouble, new report finds

Local news is in trouble, according to the latest report by “news deserts” researcher Penny Abernathy.

And it’s deepening a crisis for our democracy and our society. “The loss of local journalism has been accompanied by the malignant spread of misinformation and disinformation, political polarization, eroding trust in media, and a yawning digital and economic divide among citizens,” the State of Local News concludes.

“In communities without a credible source of local news, voter participation declines, corruption in both government and business increases, and local residents end up paying more in taxes and at checkout,” the report says.

Newsletter: Abortion as a healthcare right and collective action

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Access to abortion is a fundamental health care right and a matter of personal choice. And we’re going to fight for it by doing what we do best: organizing to protect our rights in the workplace.

Media unions tell FCC to reject local news takeover

The NewsGuild-CWA and NABET-CWA petitioned the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday to reject the attempted takeover of TEGNA by hedge fund Standard General and private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

Newsletter: Vultures are circling

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Wall Street vultures are circling local news again and this time it’s at TEGNA, a local news broadcaster that operates 66 stations in 54 communities. Standard General and Apollo Global Management are attempting a takeover of the company and it will almost certainly mean fewer local news journalists and higher costs for consumers.

If you’re a Guild member, I need your help to stop this takeover of local news.

Guild calls on Biden to stop TEGNA merger and save journalism jobs

NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss today called on President Biden to urge the Federal Communications Commission to reject the attempt to takeover TEGNA, one of the largest local broadcasting television groups, by Wall Street funds Apollo Global Management and Standard General.

Newsletter: The Hill journalists launch union campaign, more workers under contract

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Great news! Journalists at The Hill announced last week that they are unionizing! A supermajority of the roughly 80 reporters, designers, copy editors, producers and social media curators have signed cards in support of the effort. They will join the Washington-Baltimore News Guild Local 32035.

Newsletter: We are worth more.

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Over the weekend there was devastating news out of Buffalo, N.Y. Ten people were killed and three wounded when a gunman opened fire in a supermarket on Saturday in an act of racist violence. My heart goes out to the people of Buffalo, which is known as the city of good neighbors. I commend the brave reporting by Buffalo Newspaper Guild journalists. Members “jumped into action to faithfully tell the story. It’s a task we will continue to vigorously pursue.”

NewsGuild seeks FCC delay on acquisition of TEGNA, calls on TEGNA board to postpone vote on proposed deal

Update: On May 20, the FCC granted the Guild’s request to delay the deadline for opposing a mega merger of news companies. This rarely happens, yet the FCC gave us another month to oppose the proposed takeover of TEGNA by two hedge funds. A merger would raise consumer prices and cut local news jobs. We cannot continue to lose local news jobs, which are already down 28% from 2008.

The NewsGuild asked the FCC on May 12 to delay action on the proposed acquisition of TEGNA by two hedge funds.

Guild President Jon Schleuss also called on TEGNA’s Board of Directors to postpone consideration of the deal, which is currently set for May 17.

Newsletter: Packing bargaining to deliver a message

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Workers at the Chicago Reader took to the streets to save their publication. Last Tuesday they tweeted “We won,” after co-owner Len Goodman stepped down, ending his attempt to delay the publication’s transition to a nonprofit.