For Immediate Release: Dec.1, 2025
Media Contact: Jen Sheehan, jen@nyguild.org; 610-573-0740
On the heels of a groundbreaking arbitration win at POLITICO, NewsGuild-CWA members launch a national campaign and a week of action on AI.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Unionized journalists across the country have become increasingly concerned about artificial intelligence, especially how the evolving technology is eroding the public’s trust in the news.
“News, Not Slop” – a reference to the term for low-quality, surface-level digital content generated by AI – is a new NewsGuild-CWA campaign, launching today, to raise awareness about AI and its consequences and how unionized journalists are fighting to ensure that journalism for humans is led by humans. The NewsGuild-CWA represents 27,000 members across North America at major media companies including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Business Insider, POLITICO, ProPublica and more.
Central to the campaign is TNG-CWA’s Demands for Ethical AI in Journalism which outlines the demands of unionized journalists to protect their jobs and the quality of their work.
“We’ve seen countless examples of media companies’ haphazard implementation of AI in our newsrooms and the damage it causes to the credibility of the news industry,” said Ariel Wittenberg, environmental reporter at POLITICO and unit chair of the POLITICO E&E News (PEN) Guild. “That’s why we’re taking action this week to say, in the clearest possible terms: News, not slop.”
The campaign launch comes as PEN Guild announced it won its arbitration case against POLITICO management over the company’s unilateral introduction of artificial intelligence tools that bypassed negotiated safeguards and undermined core journalistic standards. PEN Guild represents nearly 260 journalists at POLITICO and E&E News. The case marks one of the nation’s first major labor-arbitration rulings addressing the impact of AI on journalists’ work, setting an important precedent for the entire U.S. news industry.
NewsGuild journalists across the country will lead an AI Week of Action Dec. 1 to 5, sharing the ways they have fought for – and won – protections against AI through social media posts at noon ET daily, using the hashtag #NewsNotSlop.
On Thursday, Reuters Guild members will distribute informational flyers, 7:30 to 9 a.m. outside Reuters Next, 1221 6th Ave. in NYC in response to the Company’s refusalCompany’s’ refusal to agree to strong AI language in contract negotiations.In the afternoon, Insider Union will host a 1PM ET rally outside company headquarters at One Liberty Place in NYC to speak out against the Business Insider’s aggressive use of Artificial Intelligence to create content.
“AI is a tool that can support our work,” said Mark Olalde, an environment journalist at ProPublica and member of the ProPublica Guild bargaining committee. “But there is no AI function, no matter how advanced, that can replace a human’s ability, our ability, to fully consider journalism’s ethical implications, to relate with a story’s subjects through lived experience or to approach an investigation with thoughtfulness and integrity. You can’t copy that with technology.”
Unionized journalists will also launch a petition bringing readers into the fight to protect news as well as lead a national town hall, featuring speakers on the front lines of fighting back against unethical AI uses.
“The good news: Across our union, we’ve won strong contract language that protects jobs and erects guardrails to protect the integrity of our members’ work,” said Jon Schleuss, TNG-CWA president. “It’s through this Week of AI Action that we’ll keep that momentum going and win strong protections in every shop to ensure there’s always a human behind the journalism.”