The Baltimore Sun Guild is demanding the newspaper stop publishing journalism they say does not meet Sun or industry standards, including wire copy from “questionable” services.
The union said those stories hurt the community and “make our jobs harder by damaging trust in the Sun.”
The Baltimore Sun has been regularly publishing stories from Fox45 and the Sinclair National Desk. David Smith, who purchased The Sun earlier this year along with Armstrong Williams, is also the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Some of those stories aren’t meeting The Sun’s own standards for “fact-checking, word use and sourcing,” according to the union. In a letter delivered to company management, the Baltimore Sun Guild said the paper “must stop publishing thinly reported, one-sided stories from Sinclair’s national desk.”
The Sun Guild is not “blanket opposed” to stories from Fox45 appearing in The Sun, but those stories need “to measure up,” Christine Condon, the unit chair of the Baltimore Sun Guild said.
“We are hearing from readers, we are hearing from sources concerned about the future of the paper under this ownership. I think the way it has started to play out has only made those concerns louder,” she said.
Read More
Baltimore Sun management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter was delivered to management shortly after dozens of unionized Baltimore Sun staffers and supporters rallied Wednesday outside the newspaper’s downtown newsroom, calling for a fair contract and demanding an end to the publication of news from “questionable” sources.
“We are here today because our union members are watching distressing changes play out on the pages of our own newspaper, and we’re pushing back,” Condon said during the rally.
The new owners of The Sun have proposed eliminating job protections in the union’s contract and have continued to publish journalism that falls short of the paper’s standards, according to the Guild.
“Smith and Armstrong, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side,” members of the Guild chanted as they briefly picketed the office building where The Sun is based on St. Paul Street.
The rally comes about two months after The Sun’s union began bargaining for a new contract with the company and its new owners. The union is pushing for provisions like better bereavement leave, paid parental leave and across-the-board raises.
Previously, the union and The Sun have agreed to contract extensions with minimal changes, and the entire contract has not been open to negotiations since 2007.
Smith purchased The Baltimore Sun at the beginning of this year for an undisclosed amount. Maryland businessman Stewart Bainum, the founder of The Baltimore Banner, attempted to purchase The Sun from Alden Global Capital, which sold to Smith, before launching The Banner.
In a meeting with the newsroom staff shortly after acquiring the paper, Smith told reporters they should emulate Fox45, Sinclair Broadcasting’s flagship station. The meeting was tense and included Smith’s insulting the quality of The Sun’s journalism.
Smith has multiple ties and involvement in local politics, including efforts to shrink the size of Baltimore City Council and lawsuits against the city school system.
At the rally Wednesday — which the Guild said was a lunch hour event, not a work stoppage or walkout — longtime Sun columnist Dan Rodricks said no newspaper was perfect, but that he’s proud of the work that happens at The Baltimore Sun.
Rodricks appealed to readers of the paper to tell management they stand with the union. The city and surrounding areas need The Sun and its daily reporting, Rodricks said.
That “only happens if readers support our journalists here, on the ground,” he said.
The Guild also pushed back on weekly story quotas they said managers are rolling out for some reporters. The pressure of weekly quotas makes it “much more difficult to get detailed feature stories and investigative reports the time they deserve,” Condon said.
In the letter sent to management, the Sun Guild requested a “substantive response” to its concerns by Thursday, along with a “clear timeline” for addressing them.
