In two weeks, a strike publication will celebrate its one-year anniversary: Pittsburgh Union Progress. With journalists holding the picket line, they are unable to file stories for their day job — so they're doing their own thing through the Union Progress. It, like other strike publications, holds multiple purposes, serving as a negotiating tool to temporarily poach subscribers and advertisers from their companies, coverage continuity while labor disputes persist, and a way to stay busy in the midst of work stoppage.

The Union Progress springs from the pens and labor of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists who have been on unfair labor practice strike since Oct. 18, 2022, citing company-imposed conditions that forced them onto a more expensive, less thorough health insurance plan. (The publication began on Oct. 20, two days after the strike started.)

But today marks the anniversary of other Post-Gazette strikers beginning their efforts: Pressmen, mailers, drivers, and advertising workers at the paper went out on strike exactly one year ago after losing health care coverage.

Roughly 30 journalists have been continuing to cover their city at the strike publication, forming partnerships with other local outlets, all while every story at the Post-Gazette is provided by a scabbing worker. The union does say it’s happy to welcome any workers to the picket line “with open arms”, even if they’ve published for the Post-Gazette during the strike. Across the five unions on strike, who represent non-journalists at the paper, there are over 100 workers holding the picket line. 

“In thinking about that, I’m just mad,” Union Progress interim editor Bob Batz Jr. said of the strike’s one-year anniversary in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, this morning. 

He and the other striking Post-Gazette workers haven’t had a contract since March 2017, and while bargaining sessions have happened, talks have stalled and sputtered. Their demands remain the same as at the strike’s start and despite guild proposals, there hasn't been movement at the bargaining table.

The progression (or lack thereof) reflects the paper’s ownership patterns: The Block brothers, who bought the paper during a prior strike in 1992 (and temporarily put it out of business), also own The Toledo Blade, whose union hasn’t had a contract for even longer — over a decade.CEO of Block Communications Inc. Allan Block hasn’t weighed in on the strike since it began, the Union Progress reported — barring a Nov. 2022 altercation where he struck an inquiring NewsGuild worker with a bag of Wendy’s food as an answer.

In the face of media ownership that is becoming more and more oligarchic and intransigent across the industry, the Union Progress exemplifies the power of worker-owned local media and community support, as The Objective’s Democracy Correspondent Jacob Gardenswartz covered earlier this year. It offers journalists the latitude to invest resources into covering communities an employer may not or will not prioritize, and like the strike, highlights the strength of worker solidarity. 

In conversation with Gardenswartz, Batz Jr. pointed to coverage of drag bingo nights and high school sports leagues as examples of stories that might’ve been overlooked at the Post-Gazette. He also highlighted an ongoing partnership between Union Progress and the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle to cover the Tree of Life synagogue shooting trial, something he said his employer would never have pursued.

“When you’re at the big daily in town, you wouldn’t be working with any other outlet. You’d be trying to beat it,” Batz Jr. argued. “We see that, you know, whatever size outlet you are, working together can bear some fruit.” 

Should owners’ refusal to budge on negotiations continue, the strike could eventually surpass the longest newspaper labor withdrawal effort in the U.S. since the 1990s, when Detroit journalists struck for close to two years. The strikers have an active fund, which can be donated to here. A rally is being held at 1:00 p.m. CT today on the 300 block of North Shore Drive. 

—James Salanga

It's not too late to get our first print magazine, The Reckoning in Food Media! Flip through reported and first-person criticism of food media coverage, along with looks to how food media can improve.

Q&A: Alan Chazaro of KQED’s ¡Hella Hungry!: The Objective’s co-executive director Janelle Salanga speaks to poet, educator, and ¡Hella Hungry! creator Alan Chazaro, who reflects on coming to food writing as someone from outside the institution of traditional journalism, telling human stories through food, and more. (The Objective)

More union movement across the country: Over the past few weeks, several newsrooms, local and national, have announced their unionization — Embarcadero Media, EdWeek, Science News, Snap Studios. The announcements reflect worker pushes for a voice at the table in the face of increased precarity, transparency and equity when it comes to ownership decisions and family leave, among other concerns. (Pacific Media Workers Guild, EdWeek Union Twitter, Workers of Snap Studios Twitter, Science News Media Guild Twitter)

URL Media creates new digital platform to showcase partner stories: The network of media organizations whose mission is supporting and serving communities of color announced a new project indexing the work of various journalists and connecting them “to new consumers and advertisers without cannibalizing community media.” It’s also meant to be a database that helps people diversify their media diet to develop a better understanding of communities of color across the country in advance of the 2024 elections. (URL Media)

The Messenger decries personal bias by partnering with AI: The news site announced it would be partnering with AI company Seekr, which reviews content to find instances of clickbait, title exaggeration, subjectivity, and personal attacks, among other things. Seekr’s AI rated the “reliability” of Bloomberg, ABC, and Politico stories on Kevin McCarthy’s ousting “very low” — and Breitbart, NY Post and Daily Mail stories “very high.” Forgive our personal bias, but that seems like an incorrect assessment. (PR News Wire, Twitter)

The Society of Professional Journalists is broke: SPJ members received a jarring email in late September laying out the organization’s budget crisis — the organization has a deficit of close to $400,000. But that’s not the only problem for the standards-setting group. Its membership is down to 4,136 people, compared to 10,000 a decade ago, and only 2,600 are professional members, raising questions about how SPJ will respond to declining membership at a time of financial insecurity for so many. (SPJ Florida chapter) 

“Doomerist” media isn’t an accident: Allison Hantschel, for Dame Magazine, speaks to the real political and media burnout experienced by so many and presents a call to action for journalists: “If the world really is on fire, the media’s role must be to break the glass separating us from the fire extinguishers instead of despairingly describing the flames.” (Dame Magazine) 

4 days until … Solutions Journalism 101, a webinar by the Solutions Journalism Network that will cover the basics of solutions journalism and how to incorporate a solutions framework into reporting. 

6 days until … “Telling Hard Stories”, a roundtable discussion and awards reception with the 2023 Dart Award honorees that will cover best practices on covering violence and tragedy. The in-person ceremony is open to the public at Columbia University and will also be livestreamed.

7 days until … AI + News, a webinar by the Journalism Institute at the National Press Club meant to foster conversations about using AI in journalism, ethical concerns around the technology and more.

($) 7 days until … AccessFest 2023, a two-and-a-half day virtual conference by the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). The conference hopes to provide more accessible training centered on belonging, equity, and inclusion in the newsroom. Registration costs $199, with discounted and student rates available. 

9 days until … "Why What Happened in Kansas Matters to Us All", an online event about the August 11th police raid on the Marion County Recorder in a case that drew national attention for its violation of 1st Amendment freedom of the press protections.

Looking for a job? Here are a few places to look: INN | ONA | JournalismJobs.com | 10 Jobs and a Dog | NABJ | AAJA | NAHJ | NLGJA | @WritersofColor | MEO Jobs | Freelance Journalist Rates | Source Jobs | Opportunities of the Week ($) | West Coast Media Jobs

How about a style guide? Trans Journalist Association | Diversity Style Guide | Tribal Nations Media Guide | NABJ Style Guide | Disability Language Style Guide | AAJA Guide to Covering Asian Pacific America | NAHJ Cultural Competence Handbook | SPJ Race & Gender Hotline | AMEJA Media Resource Guide | The Press in Prison | The Conscious Style Guide | Reporting on Addiction

Thanks for reading our newsletter, and for your patience with these issues. We appreciate you being here, and we’ll have more for you soon.

This issue is by James Salanga and Nawar Nemeh, with edits by Curtis Yee. Copy edits by Gabe Schneider.