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LOCAL NEWS

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

We deserve better

Hearst stirs resentments in S.F.

Michael Cabanatuan - Media Workers Guild - 26 Jul 2010


Many of us came to work at newspapers not just to make a living but to do our part to promote truth, justice, fairness and decency in our own small way. We do that daily -- and it shows in our award-winning newspaper and website. Unfortunately, Chronicle management doesn't seem to believe in -- or practice -- the same principles. At least not when it comes to us: the people who have made huge sacrifices to keep this paper alive.

BARGAINING BULLETIN

Talks on hold at Chronicle as membership gathers

Media Workers Guild - 22 Jul 2010

With a one-week break, Chronicle management still was not prepared to respond to our latest proposals -- vacation, 401(k), pension, health care, raises, among others -- and could not meet for negotiations today. We do plan to reschedule talks and keep the dialogue going, however. In the meantime, the Bargaining Committee worked on strategy options that we will discuss at tonight's general membership meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Guild conference room.

BARGAINING BULLETIN

Negotiators confront nay-saying management in SF

Chronicle members to meet July 22

Media Workers Guild - 09 Jul 2010

After two days of talks, we ended up discovering where Chronicle management's boundaries lie and what we can achieve in this economic climate. The bottom line: Not much. Guild negotiators proposed a two-year contract that would include pay increases, new money to protect health care, retirement gains, more vacation time and a shorter workweek. Management's idea: An 18-month extension of the current contract, with a new shade of lipstick dabbed here and there. Unit leaders called a membership meeting to air options.

BARGAINING BULLETIN

Talks focus on non-money issues at Chronicle

Citing losses, management rejects pay raises

California Media Workers Guild - 07 Jul 2010

Guild negotiators exchanged new contract proposals Wednesday with representatives of the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com. Management proposed an 18-month extension, including a pay freeze and no extra money for health care -- or anything else. The Guild committee continued to press for improvements but focused on some non-money issues where agreements may be in reach. The talks continue Thursday.

More local news

Look for the union label

Warren Hellman, the banjo-fancying philanthropist who bankrolls the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival every year in Golden Gate Park, celebrated the long-awaited debut of the Bay Citizen, the Guild-backed nonprofit news hub, with a little music the other day.

That was no surprise.

But when Hellman took to the stage at Great American Music Hall the first thing he did was strip down. Thankfully he stopped at his undershirt. We were probably more thankful than anybody.

Here's the story.


 

Heat wave in Washington

Leaders of the CWA's Association of Flight Attendants channeled Norma Rae while delivering news of their organizing campaign at the new Delta Air Lines.

It's one of the biggest organizing efforts in the country and highlighted talk of a national renewal for labor during the CWA's annual convention, under way this week in Washington, D.C.

Delegates included Michael Cabanatuan, Silvia Barden, Gloria La Riva and Carl Hall of the California Media Workers.

CWA President Larry Cohen, seated at right in photo, acknowledged the batterings of a tough economy and right-wing political attacks, but said the situation is "not hopeless, just hard, and we've done hard before." (More.)

The CWA convention and a separate Guild sector conference voted several changes to direct more resources to organizing and member services. Conventions, for instance, will be held every other year, rather than annually, to cut costs. The CWA has been the only AFL-CIO affiliate that holds the big annual meetings.

Guild delegates also met with their counterparts from Oakland-based CWA Local 9415, CWA District 9 chief Jim Weitkamp and national Guild President Bernie Lunzer to discuss plans for a possible merger. The merger effort may start with a focus on CWA and Guild units in Hawaii -- a first step toward creation of an expanded Pacific Communications Guild.


 

NEWS OF THE INDUSTRY

McClatchy 2Q earnings plunge but ad slump eases

Michael Liedtke - The Associated Press - 30 Jul 2010

McClatchy Co.'s second-quarter earnings plunged as the newspaper publisher shouldered higher costs on its debt to buy more time to recover from a bedeviling ad slump.

Thomson Reuters Q2 profit slips 8%

Andrew Vanacore - The Associated Press - 30 Jul 2010

News and information provider Thomson Reuters Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter net income fell 8% on weakness in its legal and markets divisions. The company is still recovering from last year's economic downturn, which put a crimp in budgets at many of the law firms and financial institutions that it counts as customers.

Study: Newspapers sink below internet and TV as information sources

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 29 Jul 2010

Newspapers continue to be seen as less important at their primary job -- being sources of information -- according to the latest edition of the nine-year-old Digital Future Project from the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

How WikiLeaks is changing the news power structure

Steve Myers - Poynter Online - 29 Jul 2010

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange has figured out that on the Internet, being homeless means you don't have to play by anybody's rules.

Stockton Record says paywall a success so far

Editor & Publisher - 29 Jul 2010

The Record figured it would lose half its viewership online and unique users, but has lost just between 30 and 35% of its page views and only a quarter of its unique users.

Zell's not the bad guy In Tribune Co.'s collapse

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 29 Jul 2010

The exhaustive report of the independent examiner in Tribune Co.'s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case doesn't name names when it charges the 2007 going-private deal may very well have been a "fraudulent conveyance," that is, so overloaded with debt that the Chicago media giant was insolvent from day one.

News flash! Circulation up 1042%!

Ken Doctor - Newsonomics - 28 Jul 2010

Wow. If the multi-platform strategy -- newspapers, online editions, replica e-editions, iPad editions, smartphone editions, holographic ones to come -- works, we'll see circulation reports unlike those ever reported. That's because ABC, the industry's Audit Bureau of Circulations, has loosened its counting standards yet again.

Circ accounts for nearly 30% of total revenue at Dallas Morning News parent A.H. Belo

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 27 Jul 2010

Circ is really pulling its weight at A.H. Belo Corp. In a conference call with analysts Monday afternoon, Belo executives said revenue from circulation now accounts for 29.2% of total revenue, principally a result of higher subscription prices at its flagship Dallas Morning News.

Judge to Conrad Black: No Canada for you

The Associated Press - 27 Jul 2010

A federal judge ordered Conrad Black to surrender his passport Friday, meaning the former media mogul can't return to his home in Canada now that he's free on $2 million bond.


More industry news

Next-Generation Guild taking shape

A study led by Chris Benner of the UC Davis Center for Regional Change maps a new course for the Media Workers Guild, suggesting how we can become a driving force for innovation in journalism.

“Unless you can deal with the underlying causes of the crisis in the industry and find new revenue sources, it doesn’t matter how long you want to protest, you’re just going to see a shrinking membership,” Benner said in a UC Davis news release.

Download the entire 56-page study (pdf).

New Times, New Guild

Here are links to our week-long series, "New Times: New Guild," detailing how we have begun trying to move forward through the economic turmoil gripping the news industry. The series highlights projects including creation of the first Freelance Unit in the Guild, our role in the Bay Area News Project, growth of our statewide California Federation of Interpreters Unit, the 2010 bargaining outlook, a language and cultural awareness project, mobilizing at MediaNews and an ambitious jobs-training effort. Local President Michael Cabanatuan provides an overview of the entire series. We welcome your response — please send us an email.


Part 1
  Freelancers


Part 2
News Project


Part 3
Bargaining


Part 4
New Voices


Part 5
MediaLingua


Part 6
Mobilizing


Part 7
Training


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