It wasn’t the first media walkout of the year. Two weeks ago,
members of the Los Angeles Times Guild walked out of newsrooms following an announcement from management about plans to lay off a “significant” portion of its journalists.
2024 has been off to a trying start for the news business. Over
500 journalists were laid off from newsrooms in January alone, according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That number doesn’t account for layoffs announced at
The Messenger and The Wall Street Journal this week as well.
The Messenger announced plans to shut down on Wednesday — less than a year after its launch — with founder Jimmy Finkelstein citing financial difficulties. Fetterman took aim at the “billionaire owners of The Messenger” who “shut down the news site and fired hundreds of workers with zero notice.”
Fetterman urged a resolution to ongoing contract negotiations.
“Management needs to stop dragging their feet and give these workers what they deserve,” he added. “We’ve seen through the historic United Auto Workers deal, the SAG-AFTRA agreement, and so many other labor actions over the last year just how powerful workers can be when they stand together and demand their fair share.”
The NewsGuild, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, represents journalists from media outlets including POLITICO.
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