Democracy Depends on Good Jobs, Good Journalism
By The Newspaper Guild-CWA, SaveJournalism.org
The Newspaper Guild-CWA members across the country joined together for a day of action to Save Journalism on Dec. 11. They rallied, testified and focused public attention on the harm that job cuts in the news industry cause to workers, communities, quality journalism and democracy itself.
In Nashville, TNG-CWA members organized with a broad coalition to speak out against further rollbacks in media ownership rules, the subject of the FCC hearing that followed.
“We gather in Nashville with a goal – to protect this country’s democracy by ensuring that many independent, credible voices are heard on our nation’s airwaves and in the press,” said Carolyn Tuft, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter and member of TNG-CWA Local 36047. “We must stop the media conglomerates from stripping the country of more media outlets, further eroding the check and balance that a strong free press provides the public and our democracy.”
Tuft was joined by Jim Buckley of the Steelworkers, Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union, Harold Bradley from the American Federation of Musicians, and Jerry Lee, president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO. It was a nice kick-off to what turned out to be an incredible public hearing.
At the San Francisco Chronicle, TNG-CWA officers and stewards distributed materials and had lots of one-on-one conversations with members. Among the responses: “It’s great that the Guild is doing this. I’ve always thought the industry needed to market itself this way” and “we need to get this message out to the public.” A local high school journalism teacher passed out wristbands to his class and bumper stickers were everywhere in the newsroom.
In Dayton, Ohio, about 25 TNG-CWA members rallied outside the Dayton Daily News, cheering and carrying signs and getting support from the public in the campaign for quality journalism.
In Canton, Ohio, TNG-CWA members wore wristbands and stickers, mobilizing around the pending sale of the Canton Repository. Several members spent time during the day talking with community leaders and the impact it could have on the newspaper and reporting of local news.
In Minnesota, about 150 members from the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press and supporters rallied together, releasing 100 black balloons into the air to spotlight the loss of quality journalism jobs at the newspapers since 2005.
“We’re standing outside a building that six years ago had 240 people to put out the news – writers, editors, photographers and artists,” said Brian Bonner, a reporter at Minnesota’s St. Paul Pioneer Press and member of TNG-CWA Local 37002. “Today we have 175 people doing the same jobs that 240 people used to do.”
In Pittsburgh, in the midst of difficult contract talks, TNG-CWA members and workers represented by 13 other unions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette lined the boulevard outside the newspaper to demonstrate their solidarity.
“In the past five years, more than 40 jobs have disappeared from our newsroom, more than 15 this year alone. We closed our Washington, D.C., bureau, leaving only one reporter (the lone union member in that office) to cover the nation’s capital with a Pittsburgh perspective. We lost one of our political cartoonists, too. The end result is the people of Pittsburgh have fewer watchdogs looking out for them. Fewer people are covering your community, your school board, your local hospital, your government and your favorite teams,” said columnist Brian O’Neill.
In San Jose, TNG-CWA members distributed materials around the Mercury News and held a teach-in with educators and journalism students at DeAnza College.
The Milwaukee TNG-CWA distributed materials and information around the Journal Sentinel and workers at the Catholic News Service in Washington, D.C., stood for a minute of silence.
For more information on the Save Journalism Day of Action, visit www.SaveJournalism.org.
