Unions look to rebuild in media
Outcry underscores instability and changing nature of the digital industry
When Al Jazeera America fired its CEO in May, its new management promised an era of transparency.
When AJAM’s digital journalists revealed last week their efforts to unionize, the unrequited desire for transparency was mentioned fairly high in an otherwise straightforward press release. “As we enter our third year in the public eye, a troubling lack of transparency, inconsistent management and lack of clear redress have persisted at AJAM Digital,” their statement said.
Unionizing would “give workers a voice,” says Tammy Kim, a features writer at AJAM. “With union, we believe we will have a stronger voice.”
Union representation of journalists was common back when newspapers enjoyed double-digit profit margins, often in the high double digits. But unions’ influence in journalism has waned as newspaper profits have tumbled in the digital era and online journalism struggles to find sustainable business models.
But unions are seeking to revive their place in journalism with recent attempts to recruit members in financially healthier digital news operations that are seen as viable career destinations. Employees at Gawker Media, Vice Media, The Guardian US,
The Daily Beast and Salon have opted for union representation.
Discussions are ongoing at Buzz
Feed and Politico. “The underlying dynamic is maturation — both on the side of companies and employees,” says Lowell Peterson, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), which is working with Gawker employees. “There was a time when it was your first job or the last resort when newspapers closed. It’s increasingly looked at as a place where you can build a career.”
The wish lists in digital newsrooms contain many of the components their print brethren seek — better pay, stable pension plans, established rules for firing employees.
But they also underscore the instability of an emerging industry. Transparency seems to be an oft-repeated demand. “We have a lot of experience with industries in transformation,” Peterson says. “Some of these workplaces are relatively new and owned by people who are entrepreneurs. And they make things up as they go. And it doesn’t always go over well. Share your thought process with us. Don’t make this stuff up.”
More structured, transparent pay scales are needed to ward off random and low pay prevalent in the business, says Peter Szekely, president of the NewsGuild of New York, which is working with AJAM journalists. “They’re kind of using the enthusiasm and passion of the people who work for them,” he says. “That was always the case of any news organizations with a lot of young people. And you can do that for a while. but these folks are going to grow up.”
Gawker editors’ recent spat with founder Nick Denton also highlighted the significance of editorial independence as a demand sought in collective bargaining, Peterson says.
The top editors of the site quit after Denton removed from the site a story about an executive who was allegedly seeking an affair online. With heavy production demands, flatter reporting structures and, often, a lack of established editorial guidance, digital news employees want a say in any changes to editorial policy, Peterson says.
“Some of these workplaces are relatively new and owned by people who are entrepreneurs. And they make things up as they go.”
Lowell Peterson of the Writers Guild of America, East