PART ONE OF SEVEN

New unit sets bold course for freelancers

Rebecca Rosen Lum

06 Jan 2010

Media Workers Guild

Studs Terkel described the flow of information, news and ideas as “the juice that gets a democracy going.”

It’s also the juice that fuels those of us who have chosen to remain in journalism against daunting odds.

Our industry hemorrhaged 86,400 jobs from November 2008 to November 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. It takes courage and commitment to be a journalist these days – not to mention access to a health plan and retirement options. Many who opt to stay in the field are doing so as freelancers starving for work – and benefits -- in an increasingly competitive market.

In the Bay Area, freelancers have created an organization that enables us to continue working without forgoing all the supports, benefits and security the traditional newsroom provided.

The Freelance Unit of the California Media Workers Guild, the first Guild-sponsored freelance unit in North America, intends to set standards for quality and fair treatment in all platforms, eventually forging a movement to be reckoned with in the new media world.

Organized freelancers can reshape an industry in a state of flux.

“The days of large, well-capitalized media ventures are passing us by,” said Michael Stoll, project director of SF Public Press, the nonprofit news site. “There may be less specialization (by reporters); more freelancers, fewer staffers, more different ideas about how beats are covered. That can be a good thing.“There is no one ‘way of the future,’” Stoll added. “We’ll see a diversity of models, and no one model will disappear.”

The new Media Workers unit is well-positioned to negotiate the changing landscape. One of its major goals is to lead a campaign to develop a voluntary “Fair Freelance” certification for supportive news entities to adopt. This would be like a combined “Good Housekeeping” and “Fair Trade” seal of approval. An online or print logo would signal that the outlet adheres to journalistic and ethical standards and compensates its media workers fairly.

Mainstream media outfits like the San Francisco Chronicle and MediaNews Group increasingly rely on freelancers to cover their depleted staff. Guild Freelancers will work with represented Guild bargaining units at those newspapers to ensure staffers and freelancers are solidly aligned, and one group cannot be pitted against the other.

Participation in the Guild, which includes a credential for freelancers seeking press identification without a sponsoring employer, adds to credibility.

“Editors value writers they can trust,” said Jesse Hamlin, longtime music and arts writer for the Chronicle, now a freelancer and a member of the new unit.

In its first few weeks of organizing, the San Francisco-based Freelancers Unit grew quickly to nearly 60 members, a few from as far as Portland, Ore., and Los Angeles. The unit is working with community groups and other partners to strengthen the safety net and equip writers, photographers, web content providers and graphic artists with the support they need to work effectively.

Financial benefits are already in place, along with a program of professional development, a committee to decide on press-credential applications, and help with the business end of freelancing.

As membership rises, the unit plans to negotiate terms for group health coverage, including dental and vision care.

The Freelance Unit’s new Web site (GuildFreelancers.org) already promotes the talents and skills of members in a “We Love Our Work” feature that spotlights our best talent. An online directory aimed at clients is in the works. Seminars and workshops are helping members maintain the technical fluency that working in new media requires, as well as acquire new tools of a changing trade.

Individually, most freelancers have little bargaining power to deal with publishers used to dictating terms. By organizing, we can work with union legal advisers to build contract know-how and the muscle to insist that freelancers are treated fairly, agreements are honored and fees are paid on time.

A Guild Freelancer with a press credential will have to show he or she is a bona fide journalist. Don Lattin, whose new book “The Harvard Psychedelic Club” just came out, agreed to serve as chair of the committee weighing applications.

“We need to have some standards in issuing press credentials, otherwise they become meaningless,” he said. “Our goal is not to exclude anyone based on the type of journalism they practice or the platform they use to publish or broadcast their work,” he said. “But we need to separate the dabbler, the dilettante and the publicist from the ranks of freelance working journalists.”

The unit also builds strength by informing journalists who suddenly face the reality of becoming their own human resources department, assignment editor, marketing arm and copy desk.

One of our primary missions is to fill that gap, while nurturing the freedom journalists experience after leaving a beat-oriented newsroom.

Departing the Oakland Tribune meant losing a sense of belonging for Barbara Grady, whose series on child prostitution earned her the 2008 Excellence in Journalism Award from the national Society for Professional Journalists.

“You realize you don’t have an organization behind you, comrades to bounce ideas off of, someone who’s got your back, resources,” she said. “At the Tribune I felt like we were all on this mission together.”

On the other hand, “I do feel freer to write about what I want, to approach stories in the way I want,” she added.

Guild Freelancers provides camaraderie and access to resources. At a recent seminar, Grady learned that by incorporating, journalists can protect their assets in the event of a lawsuit.

For environmental reporter Alison Hawkes, a high point was the recent authors’ panel on getting a nonfiction book published.

It featured Lattin, Mary Pols (“Accidentally on Purpose”) and Joan Ryan, who followed up her groundbreaking “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes” with a memoir, “The Water Giver.”

“They had lots of tips, nuts-and-bolts advice,” Hawkes said after the November event. “Good stuff about finding an agent, what makes a good agent, and the expectations of what makes a good agent. I came away with a better understanding of the process. It was great.”

The unit’s website keeps members informed through timely articles and regular features on recent projects by Freelance Unit members.

For photographer Darryl Bush, one of the unit’s big pluses is the jobs he hears about at non-traditional news sites.

“All these things that help us connect are good,” he said.

Editor's Note: Rebecca Rosen Lum, a former religion writer for the Bay Area News Group-East Bay's Contra Costa Times, was one of the first to join the Guild's 2007 "One Big BANG: One Guild Universe" organizing campaign. She is now a fulltime Guild organizer supported by a grant from the Berger-Marks Foundation. Members recently chose her to serve as chair of the Freelance Unit.