Categories: OLD Media Moves

Union representing WSJ journalists gives $10,000 to Bird family

The union representing Wall Street Journal reporters has given $10,000 to the family of a Journal reporter who has been missing since January.

At its meeting on Dec. 6, the board of directors of IAPE approved sending the David Bird family $10,000 to help in their time of need. Second, the board approved a matching-gifts program; if any IAPE member donates money to the Bird family, IAPE will match that contribution dollar for dollar, up to a maximum of $10,000.

Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, kept Bird on the payroll through the end of July. However, effective Aug. 1, Bird’s status was changed to unpaid leave of absence.

This means that David’s wife Nancy, a stay-at-home wife and mother caring for their two children, has no income with which to provide for her family. The company is maintaining the family’s health-care benefits.

Checks, payable to the Bird Family Trust, may be sent to the IAPE office (5 Schalks Crossing Road, Suite 220, Plainsboro, NJ, 08536), or mailed directly to:

Bird Family Trust
P.O. Box 234
Millington, N.J. 07946

If you make your delivery directly to the Bird Trust, please send a photocopy of your check to the IAPE office so it may send a matching amount.

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.