Bloomberg Industry Group union objects to company proposal

Bloomberg Industry Group management has proposed in negotiations with its union to remove just cause protections for editorial employees, which the Guild has rejected.

Rebecca Rainey, Bloomberg Industry Group guild chair, issued the following statement:

This provision is unique and it is special. For all the wrong reasons. It is an embarrassment to the history of excellent journalism produced by INDG and BNA before it. To the newsroom and content employees, this is an attempt by management to control what content and especially news, its employees produce. It’s an affront to our readers, your customers, and literally you, David, who rely on our journalism.

This provision binds journalists to only produce content management likes, under fear they may be discharged for independent journalism. Non-independent journalism isn’t journalism. A free press means an independent press. Independent from any interests–external or internal. Without those fundamental principles, journalism isn’t journalism. We have heard a unanimous position from our members: we will not accept a contract that strips them of the protections they need to do their jobs. Moreover, we heard from the NewsGuild, and they will not approve a contract that includes this language.
This provision raises a number of concerns ranging from could a reporter be fired for typos or errors their editor introduces to will employees be fired simply because an editor doesn’t like them. We find it hard to believe that any situations that this provision might cover can’t be solved by progressive discipline or gross misconduct. Moreover, we see no reason why an arbiter is any less qualified to weigh in on if editorial polices are applied consistently than requirements for coders or a sales rep.
Management has the right to change its business model from journalism to paid content if it likes. Just don’t pretend or insult the generations of journalists who have worked at this storied institution by calling what you propose, to still be journalism. We, as the guild made up of journalists and content creators, ask that you withdraw this provision in order to maintain our newsrooms nearly century’s old legacy of independent journalism.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.