For those following along with Lewis Raven Wallace’s column making the case for movement journalism, his column will be in your inbox next week! Thanks for your patience.

This week’s spate of stories from us spans the gamut of good news to historical coverage. The top story is a labor win — Snopes Guild won voluntary recognition just 15 days after going public.

Then we’ve got a couple other stories published this week aiming to redress recent and past history: Jen Ramos Eisen writes about the failure of sports reporters’ All-Star Game coverage to address a voter suppression law that made MLB move the All-Star Game away from Atlanta — especially since the law’s still present, and the game is back. Joseph Torres recaps the history of racism in the Federal Communications Commission and connects it to the aims of the commission under the current administration.

In this issue:

And also: Congress votes to rescind federal public media funding, new hub for worker-owned newsrooms coming soon, a potential police-press protection precedent, and Politico workers go to arbitration for AI use contract violations. Plus, the resource of the week is some new frames for ICE coverage.

—James Salanga

Rated true: The internet’s oldest dedicated fact-checking organization officially has a union.

Per workers’ request, management at Snopes voluntarily recognized Snopes Guild on July 15, a day after the guild’s deadline for recognition and 15 days since the union went public. Approximately 10 editorial staffers are represented by the union, which is a part of Media Guild West, and 80% of eligible workers voted in favor of union representation.

“We welcome management’s decision to voluntarily recognize the Snopes Guild,” the Snopes Guild organizing committee said in a press release. “This is a great step toward creating a fairer workplace for all and we appreciate management’s willingness to engage with us. We look forward to meeting them at the bargaining table.”

The union went public on June 30, and its recognition comes in the wake of a 2022 changing of the guard after the 31-year-old organization underwent legal turmoil in the latter half of the last decade. Former Salon owners and tech entrepreneurs Chris Richmond and Drew Schoentrup are still Snopes’ CEO and CFO, respectively, after first acquiring a 50% share in the company with a small group in 2016.

While several newsrooms with fact-checking units are unionized, like the Associated Press, Snopes may be unique. “We are probably among the first who are just a dedicated fact-checking organization,” Nur Ibrahim, a Snopes reporter and guild member, told The Objective when the union went public.

Read more in The Objective.

—James Salanga

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Journalism’s hesitance to reckon with sports’ political context is exemplified by incomplete coverage of the All-Star Game’s return to Atlanta, where a voter suppression law that prompted the game’s leaving in 2021 has since been worsened by local politicians and legacy media. Read the full story in The Objective.

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Since the agency’s inception, FCC policies have undermined the 14th Amendment rights of Black people and Black communities. Read the full story in The Objective.

Congress rescinds public media funding: Trump’s rescission package now passes to him for a signature. If successful, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — which funnels money to both NPR and PBS — will lose $1.1 billion meant for the next two years, along with $7.9 billion for other programs. “Parents and children, senior citizens and students, tribal and rural communities — all will bear the harm of this vote," NPR CEO Katherine Maher said.

📻 Read the story in NPR.

Defector wins grant to build shared services for independent, worker-friendly local media organizations: The worker-owned newsroom is one of the 22 projects awarded grants in the latest round of Press Forward funding, focused on infrastructure-building projects. “We’ve long hoped that we would be able to provide more structured and systematic support to other collectives of journalists,” Defector staff wrote.

⚒️ Read the story in Defector.

Federal judge bars LAPD from using force on journalists at immigration raid protests — for now: On July 10, Judge Hernán D. Vera issued a 14-day order that blocks officers from using force or restricting press covering immigration raid protests. It follows a lawsuit filed by Status Coup and the LA Press Club last month, and a hearing on July 24 could offer a chance for the order to become permanent, setting a potential precedent for press protections during protests.

📰 Read the story in VisaVerge.com.

Politico/E&E News reporters to go to arbitration over AI use violations: The hearing will determine whether Politico violated contract stipulations around AI use, and workers say management failed to bargain over new AI tools or ensure any AI-generated content meets the same ethical and editorial standards as human reporting in two cases. “We’re fighting not just for our contract, but for the future of ethical journalism in the age of AI,” PEN Guild member Arianna Skibell said.

⚙️ Read the story in Talking Biz News.

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.

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Support The Objective today!

This week’s resource is … a set of frames to broaden your ICE coverage beyond a focus on citizenship status and immigration.

I’m back after spending the week in Chicago at NAHJ, where I took seminars on using WhatsApp for community engagement, met John Quinones, and sunbathed at Oak Street Beach.

Over our happy hours and lunchtime plenaries, though, there was an air of tension. On the first day, at least a dozen Department of Homeland Security agents showed up unannounced at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Humboldt Park — a neighborhood that is half Latine — and refused to show identification when pressed by museum workers to leave. Employees said they overheard agents discussing plans for the weekend’s Barrio Arts Festival, WTTW reported, which drew hundreds to the neighborhood for art, salsa lessons, and Latin jazz performances.

Since the Trump administration ramped up ICE raids in January, ICE agents have repeatedly and illegally detained non-white U.S. citizens at work and during traffic stops because they “look” like immigrants.

They tried to raid a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philly without a warrant. Soon after, the Navajo Nation told NBC News they received reports of tribal members — U.S. citizens — being questioned by ICE agents based on their appearance. Watering down repeat instances of racial profiling and free speech suppression as problems that just impact those with a certain legal status presupposes that ICE operates in a vacuum, not the reality that their tactics are creating a pathway for other law enforcement agencies to do the exact same.

Framing ICE coverage as a mere immigration issue may no longer meet the needs of the communities you cover, especially as many have weathered the fallout of raids, a new detention center, or surveillance tactics.

Often, the final editorial decisions are not up to reporters, who are also trying their hardest to serve immigrant communities without diluting their coverage. So, how can you cover ICE in a context that isn’t just limited to immigration?

Read my full column on The Objective.

—Beatrice Forman, Democracy Journalism Columnist

Thanks for reading. We’ll have more for you next week.

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