Now that the president has described journalists as enemies of the people, it’s past time to assess our role not just as journalists but as citizens in a new world order that seems at odds with the values espoused in our contracts and our everyday representation of NewsGuild-CWA members.
Journalists strive to be fair in our stories. We quote all sides of issues, and we don’t publish photos that distort a scene into something it’s not. Our contracts also strive for fairness in calling for equal pay for men and women and no discrimination based on age, sex, sexual orientation or religion.
That drive for fairness comes at us from both sides of our professional lives and because of that, permeates our personal ones as well. When protests, rallies and marches are held on behalf of what we hold so dear that we put it in writing — what’s a journalist do? How do we respond when our tenet of journalistic fairness is at odds with our hard-won contracts that seek That’s because journalists are fighting back against the administration’s assaults on the truth and our profession. workplace fairness?
The National Labor Relations Act provides some guidance. Section 7 “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection,” as well as the right to not engage in those activities.
For example, the ‘Moral Monday’ marches in North Carolina have at times focused on union rights, along with other issues. Technically, I could participate on the days that the marches include union rights. But I also cover the Rev. William Barber, the leader of the ‘Moral Monday’ movement. So I refrain from marching. In this case, I choose being a journalist over any hint that the coverage won’t be fair.
That’s because journalists are fighting back against the administration’s assaults on the truth and our profession.
When an event also focuses on issues such as fair wages for women or equal rights for minorities — the same issues covered by our contracts — it seems odd that we hesitate before participating or outright reject it. In addition to fears about discipline from our employers — a real fear that we can’t ignore — our sense of journalistic fairness stops us.
When I decided in junior high school that I wanted to be a reporter, I didn’t understand that I was waiving my First Amendment rights for decades to come. For better or worse, I may have regained them for at least one issue, thanks to the president who still says he got the biggest Electoral College win since Reagan — he didn’t — and who dismisses critical stories as “fake news.”
That’s because journalists are fighting back against the administration’s assaults on the truth and our profession. One newspaper is threatening to sue after a politician referred to a column as ‘fake news.’ Hashtags such as #protectthetruth are taking root. We can’t sit idly by and let our profession — the one so important that it’s the FIRST amendment — be defamed. And part of that fighting back includes doing what we do best: stories, photos and videos that dig deep, are well written and are fair — whatever that means in an age of Holocaust deniers and white supremacists.
The truth is under such assault that a march is scheduled for April 22, Earth Day, in support of science, something I never thought would be necessary. And in this current atmosphere, a rally in support of the First Amendment and a free press can’t be far behind. When it’s held, I know most of us will finally feel free to march, protest and wave our signs.
I say most because some of us will need to stay behind to cover it.