Working Journalists aims to improve conditions for Chicago-area freelancers
by Rachel Sanders Rob Dicker felt totally secure in his position as staff photographer with Pioneer Press. He had skills, seniority and a great relationship with his manager. So it came as a total shock when he was called into a meeting in May 2013 by his newspaper’s corporate owner, Sun-Times Media. The company laid off its entire […]
Sara Steffens on the challenges and benefits of freelance organizing
by Rachel Sanders The world, it seems, is going freelance. With traditional media in a state of massive restructuring, there are more independent media workers than ever before. Freelance unions (such as our own CMG Freelance) are growing and expanding to provide advocacy and support to the growing freelance ranks. Sara Steffens has been on the front line of […]
Asking Arianna for change
Open letters to publications’ management are a last-ditch tactic to right wrongs and spur change—but as we’ve seen recently, they can be effective. Now, adding his voice to many others asking the Huffington Post to reconsider its approach to compensating writers, comes Bernie Lunzer, president of the Newspaper Guild-CWA, with an open letter to Arianna […]
Newspaper Guild-CWA advocating on behalf of unpaid HuffPo writers
Poynter.org has posted a press release from the Newspaper Guild-CWA in which it asks writers who contribute work to the Huffington Post for free to cease doing so until the company agrees to start compensating them. The Guild’s request follows the Huffington’s Post‘s recent $350 million buyout by AOL, and it’s not the first call […]
