ProPublica is the U.S.’s biggest investigative newsroom. But for several years, its workers have been fighting for more codified protections around disciplinary processes and greater wage equity — struggles only exacerbated by the launch of generative AI. So this week’s Objective digest looks at motivations for the ProPublica strike including, and beyond, protections around generative AI.

Also in our digest this week, we have a republished story from the Baltimore Beat, diving into an accountability push by Black journalists who experienced what they call a “discouraging and retaliatory environment” at the local CBS station.

An abbreviated version of our media links is on Instagram each week, focusing on what a handful of those stories say about how power and identity impact journalism. (Previous week’s here!)

—James Salanga

The April 8 action is the first work stoppage in the U.S. called in part over guardrails around generative AI. Last month, over 92% of union members — of the 99% participating in the election — voted in favor of authorizing a strike.

But ProPublica’s union workers — who span reporters, audience editors, designers, and business and communications staff — are striking over more than just generative AI use: They’re also seeking wage increases that keep up with cost of living and are fair across regional bureaus, disciplinary processes that protect against arbitrary dismissal, and seniority provisions should layoffs occur.

“We’re here together today because we really care about each other,” ProPublica reporter Jeremy Kohler, who is based in St. Louis, said from the Chicago picket line. “There’s significant gaps in pay that need to be addressed [across teams and regions] … We’re doing some really powerful journalism, and we want to be paid fairly.”

Read the full story.

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After more than a decade in broadcast news across the country, Stephon Dingle moved back home to Baltimore in 2022 to work at WJZ-TV, the local CBS station he grew up watching with his grandmother.

Instead, he found himself navigating a workplace where some current and former employees describe retaliation, discrimination, and a hostile newsroom culture — and where speaking out came with consequences.

Dingle is one of a group of eight Black journalists whose allegations have escalated into a national rebuke, with leaders from the National Association of Black Journalists disinviting CBS and WJZ from its annual convention in August unless their concerns are addressed.

Read the full story, republished with permission from the Baltimore Beat.

👉 Follow-up: While ProPublica goes on strike to achieve greater guidance with and protections from AI reporting, the Associated Press has offered buyouts to staff as a pivot away from news and towards “visual journalism and developing new revenue sources, particularly through companies investing in artificial intelligence, to cope with the economic collapse of many legacy news outlets.”

🎖️ The Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism from the Nieman Foundation goes to journalists who are emblematic of a dogged press under extreme circumstances. This year, it went to two Palestinian journalists for their on-the-ground coverage of the genocide in Gaza, Anas Baba and Shrouq Aila.

⚠️ Solidarity reporting is global: Journalism scholar and writer Anita Varma at the University of Texas at Austin announced another book as a sequel to her recently published Solidarity in Journalism. After conversations with journalists who practice solidarity reporting, Dangerous Solidarity: How Truth Telling Persists in Hostile Conditions will look at how reporters around the world have navigated the dangerous attention their work draws.

🏛️ Last week, a federal judge ruled in favor of NPR and PBS’ suit against the Trump administration for violating their First Amendment rights. Now, a small group of Voice of America reporters are hoping to do the same. VOA reporters had been removed by Kari Lake, a Trump appointee, before a U.S. District Court ordered them back. Now they are in legal limbo, not yet returned to work and not legally ousted.

Have a story you think we should include in this section of next week’s newsletter? Let us know here or by responding to this email.

This issue is by James Salanga and Marlee Baldridge. Thanks for reading. We’ll have more for you next week.

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