Resolution: 71A-09-09
Approved: June 23, 2009
In the past year, troubling trends are again threatening the news industry. Owners of print and broadcast outlets are responding to the downturn in the economy with the same tired ideas. These include relaxation of anti-trust laws, elimination of jobs, and the combining of news gathering operations. This ends up with fewer voices and less diversity which leads to a less informed citizenry – and this is a threat to democracy itself.
Shared newsgathering is a way for once-competitive local TV stations – and in some cases, the TV station and the local newspaper – to decide which stories to cover and then share the video with each other. The number of news crews covering an event is reduced, resulting in fewer work opportunities for our own members. This reduction of competition deprives the consumer of the diversity of viewpoints that is so essential in a democracy. The public suffers as the quality and quantity of local news diminishes.
Like shared newsgathering, some broadcast companies are entering into so-called Joint Operating Agreements in which one TV station turns news and/or programming operations over to another station in the community. These agreements undermine the quality and quantity of local news and community service. For example, in Syracuse, N.Y. this past winter, WTVH (Channel 5) turned all programming operations over to a competitor, WSTM (Channel 3). NABET-CWA members were immediately displaced, and the community suffered by losing one of its three local broadcast news providers. WTVH holds on to its FCC license for its equity value, yet fails to fulfill the public interest obligations of its broadcast license.
It is time to end the corporate attacks on quality and diverse news and quality union news jobs.
Resolved: The Communications Workers of America affirms our commitment to protecting the public interest in diverse and quality media in broadcast, print, and other media outlets.
Resolved: The Communications Workers of America calls upon Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission to hold hearings into the impact of shared newsgathering agreements and Joint Operating Agreements on public access to multiple, independent sources of news.