Gannett Strike: NJ Reporters Bash CEO Over Drop In Local News Coverage

NEW JERSEY — Unionized reporters employed with Gannett, one of the largest media corporations in the United States, launched a nationwide strike on Monday to demand a “reinvestment” in local news coverage and “living wages” for journalists. The walkout included several newsrooms in New Jersey.

The strike is expected to last for one day, although some newsrooms may walk off the job for two days or more. It’s the largest collective action that Gannett employees have taken to date, according to the NewsGuild-CWA, which is representing more than 1,000 of the company’s workers across 50 bargaining units.

A spokesperson said unionized journalists in the following New Jersey newsrooms are taking part in Monday’s strike: The (Bergen) Record, Daily Record, NJ Herald, Asbury Park Press, Home News Tribune (Mycentraljersey.com), Courier News (Mycentraljersey.com).

The strike was timed to coincide with Gannett’s annual shareholder meeting.

“For years, we’ve been handed poverty wages and continually stripped of the resources we need to do our job,” said Cheryl Makin, a reporter for the Home News Tribune and vice chair of the APP-MCJ Guild.

Kaitlyn Kanzler, a reporter for the Record and unit chair of the Record Guild, said that many of her Gannett colleagues have turned to public assistance or private charity just to get by.

“This is no way to run a news company,” Kanzler said.

A Gannett spokesperson provided the following statement to Patch about Monday’s strike:

“Despite the work stoppage, in some of our markets, there will be no disruption and we will not cease delivering trusted news to our loyal readers. Our goal is to preserve journalism and serve our communities across the country as we continue to bargain in good faith to finalize contracts that provide equitable wages and benefits for our valued employees.”

The union has released a statement about the strike and the workers’ demands, which can be seen here.

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Two weeks ago, the NewsGuild-CWA sent a letter to Gannett shareholders urging a vote of no-confidence against CEO Mike Reed, accusing him of “hollowing out” local newsrooms company-wide and “mismanaging finances” since the merger of GateHouse Media and Gannett Media in November 2019. The letter accused Reed of “tainting the company’s reputation, turning off subscribers, forcing out talented staff and creating legal risks by hampering proper vetting of stories and violating federal labor law.”

“During Reed’s tenure, the company’s finances have been grossly mismanaged in the service of massive self-incurred debt and Gannett has cut nearly 20% of its journalism jobs in the last year, instituted unpaid furloughs and a hiring slowdown and suspended company contributions to employee 401(k) plans,” the NewsGuild-CWA stated.

The staff cuts are having a direct impact on the amount of local news that Gannett is producing for the communities it serves, the union noted. At the Asbury Park Press, the number of newsroom employees has dropped from 54 to 29 over the past 10 years – about 46.3 percent.

Meanwhile, a sample of ten Gannett publications (eight of which were involved in Monday’s work stoppage) found that local news stories have declined by 59 to 95 percent over the past decade, the NewsGuild-CWA said.

“This is the kind of relevant news New Jersey readers can expect when local newsrooms are continually cut by corporate leaders sitting far, far away,” a reporter with the Record tweeted, sharing an article with a headline titled “Are hyenas dogs? Not exactly. Here's everything to know about the Hyaenidae family.”

Supporters of the strike have started a GoFundMe campaign in an attempt to “reimburse as many striking journalists as possible” from several New Jersey and New York-area newsrooms.

“Missing a day's pay affects us tremendously, but we're willing to do whatever it takes —even putting our livelihoods on the line — to get rid of Mike Reed and push this company to reinvest in its newsrooms,” the online fundraiser states.

As of Monday, the fundraiser has seen nearly $2,000 in donations from dozens of donors; learn more here.

When staff at the Bergen Record, the Daily Record and the NJ Herald, as well as NorthJersey.com, first announced they planned to form a union affiliated with the NewsGuild of New York in 2021, they saw support from several elected officials, including Gov. Phil Murphy and both of New Jersey’s U.S. senators, Robert Menendez and Cory Booker.

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. also supported the unionization drive, saying that he “loudly opposed” the sale of the Gannett chain to GateHouse Media in 2019, which he called a “hedge fund that has a history of firing reporters and imposing pay cuts.”

• See related article: NJ Newspapers Try To Unionize; Reporters Have Demands For Gannett
• See related article: Gannett Purchases North Jersey Media Group Publications
• See related article: Massive Newspaper Merger Puts NJ Jobs At Risk, Senators Say

Unionized journalists with Gannett previously held a one-day strike in November 2022. Read More: NJ Reporters Walk Off Job Amid Nationwide Gannett Newsroom Strike

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