Fighting Back: Guild: Democracy Depends on Good Journalism

Newspaper Guild members across the country rallied, testified and otherwise drew attention in December to the crisis that massive industry job cuts pose to media workers, quality journalism and democracy itself.

"In the past five years, more than 40 jobs have disappeared from our newsroom, more than 15 this year alone," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Brian O'Neil, a member of TNG-CWA Local 38061, said at a Dec. 11 "Day of Action" rally. "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."

His concerns and similar statistics were echoed throughout the country as journalists protested the loss of 44,000 news industry jobs in the last five years, at least 34,000 of them at newspapers alone. Thousands more cuts have been announced in recent weeks in cities that include St. Paul, as well as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Jose, Calif.

In Nashville on Dec. 11, Guild members joined a broad coalition of opponents — from country music singers to consumer and religious groups — fighting further rollbacks in media ownership rules, the subject of a Federal Communications Commission hearing.

"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."

The Nashville hearing was the second the FCC has held on the current round of rule changes that could allow media giants to buy up even more newspapers and TV and radio stations, affecting both jobs and the ability of Americans to get information from a wide variety of sources.

"What's at stake is the future of local news and information," TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said. "With the quality and diversity of local news already threatened by the domination of media conglomerates, giving these media moguls more latitude to combine local newspapers and local broadcast stations will result in less exchange of viewpoints, less local news, less public discourse and more civic apathy."

The Pittsburgh rally took place in the midst of difficult contract talks, with Guild members and workers represented by 13 other unions at the Post-Gazette lining a central boulevard to demonstrate their solidarity. Meanwhile, across the state in Philadelphia, the day of action meant another bitter round at the bargaining table while the Guild fought to save jobs and their pension plan. (See Guild contracts story.)

In Dayton, Ohio, members of TNG-CWA Local 34157, rallied with signs that said, "No News is Bad News" and "Taking a Stand for Good Journalism." The publisher of the Dayton Daily News is cutting staff by means of early retirement buyouts that about 65 workers so far have accepted. Lou Grieco, president-elect of the local, called for the lost jobs to be filled.

"Democracy doesn't work well without information," Grieco said, quoted by the Associated Press. "People are not able to make good decisions within the voting booth. They don't realize what their local governments are doing, what their police forces are doing. We serve as a surrogate for them."