51: June/July 2006

New Guild ethics policy calls for honesty, attribution and protection for sources
Guild studying pension changes
Column: Round-the-clock news cycle means various new challenges for journalists
Be careful with your journalsentinel.com e-mail
Please try to sign up again for Guild blog updates
Impact mixed for worker’s compensation change
Next Guild membership meeting is September 18; make sure to come and vote for your leadership
Hetzner and Mark Johnson elected to Guild board

New Guild ethics policy calls for honesty,
attribution and protection for sources

A set of principles on professionalism and honesty in the news media was approved at The Newspaper Guild sector conference in Las Vegas on July 8. Our delegates to the sector conference, Second Vice President Amy Rinard and Board Member Jerry Ziegler, voted to approve the ethics policy, which was endorsed by a unanimous vote of the 151 delegates from Guild locals throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The policy had been in the works for more than a year, undergoing considerable discussion, debate, rewriting and editing by Guild leaders along the way.

It is an effort to get out front on the issue of journalistic ethics and professional standards instead of allowing corporate managers to set such codes and then expect employees to live up to them or face possible disciplinary action, national Guild leaders said at the sector conference.

If we don't come up with our own ethics principles, one delegate said, we're admitting it's somebody else's problem.

The principles state that those who gather and present the news shall strive for honesty, accuracy, fairness and balance in their work to maintain their credibility as guardians of the public's right to know.

Among other things, the code calls for protection of confidential news sources, clear attribution of material and a duty to promote an open exchange of ideas and information through a respect for diversity in hiring and stories produced.

Of special interest to newsroom staffers, the code emphasizes that those who work for news-gathering organizations "must not be asked to sacrifice their own freedoms of expression, association or belief."

The policy states:

"Those responsible for gathering and presenting the news retain their rights to private lives free of restriction, provided there is no actual conflict with their ability to be trusted sources of information."

Around the country, off-the-job activities by newsroom staffers have been the basis for disciplinary actions against them by management.

Journal Communications Inc. has promulgated a corporate ethics policy for newsroom staff and has asked employees to sign a statement acknowledging they have read and understood it. While supporting the very highest journalistic standards of integrity, the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild maintains that a newsroom ethics code must follow the guidelines set forth in our contract, which, like the international Guild policy, focuses on whether outside activities pose a conflict of interest.

Guild studying pension changes

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild leaders are reviewing an abrupt change in Journal Communications retirement benefits.

The company says that current employees must choose in September between keeping their pensions in their current form, or freezing their pensions at this year's level and receiving a 3% employer contribution to their 401(k) plans in future years.

New hires, by contrast, have no choice. In a letter that employees received in May, the company says nobody hired after May 1 can get a traditional pension, and every new employee will be offered the 401(k) contribution instead. It also says this decision was reached in late April, meaning that part took effect immediately, before we heard about it.

Management did not discuss these changes in advance with Guild leaders. We are studying this issue carefully to determine whether the changes are in compliance with our contract.

As for whether the changes would be a better deal for members, that would likely depend on individual circumstances. Contractual issues aside, everyone should examine how the numbers would work for them.

Round-the-clock news cycle means various
new challenges for journalists

Do you sometimes feel like Lance Armstrong? In this 24-hour News Cycle world, there are many of you out there who start peddling from the moment you get up in the morning, until late in the afternoon -- fast enough to earn yourselves a yellow jersey. From what I can tell so far, much of the “work” isn’t new -- whether it was stone tablets, hot type, platemaking, computer-generated or from fingertips to computer screen, it’s still news. But, we all know we’re being asked to do it faster and to do more of it and that’s challenging. And, in some cases, we are being asked to also take on some new technologies, like digital video and digital recording. Are we being adequately trained?

Jennie Tunkieicz

And, as we do more, who’s doing the work we can’t get to, or are we simply being asked to do more and more?

This has been a major topic at recent meetings of The Newspaper Guild.

Bernie Lunzer, TNG secretary-treasurer, outlined some of the questions that newspaper employees across the nation are raising. Some of these points are similar to ones that a number of you have raised to me.

Lunzer’s points to ponder:
- Do you feel you’re filing stories online before they are ready?
- Are you a volunteer or coerced? Does your career depend on helping?
- Is video killing the photography star?
- Do you think you’re being fairly compensated for increased work ­ what is the new work and what is it worth?
- Is the new work taking extra time that then requires you to work overtime to get your other work done, and are you afraid to tell anyone about the overtime?
- Will the “little things” (online postings, blogging) make a difference when your employer reviews your work?
- What if those “little things” are impacting the number of big, front-page stories you would normally do? Will that affect your evaluation?

Lunzer also shares some interesting facts:
- While paid circulation of newspapers continues to drop, actual readership is higher than ever.
- Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. in 2005 totaled $12.5 billion, an all-time single-year record.
- McClatchy’s operating margin last year was 28%, while ExxonMobil’s was around 16%, and the typical supermarket’s is around 4%.
Newspaper readership fell faster between 1970 and 1990, by 15%, more than it has since.
- The Washington Post, despite its drop in circulation (over 7% in the last two years) attracted more than 8 million readers to its Web site in February, an increase of nearly 3 million over the same time last year.

That all just underlines what most of us already know: People are still reading, but how they are reading is changing; newspaper companies have set an unrealistic expectation for revenue; and there is still advertising money to be made.

In coming months, your stewards will be coming to you and asking what impact the changing work flow is having on you. Maybe you love the fast pace, the new technologies (video, podcasting, etc.) and you believe you’re handling it well. But, maybe you are completely freaked out, feeling a bit apprehensive and ill-prepared, or perhaps you think it’s affecting your ability to get “real” stories done. Or, as is often the case, maybe you fall somewhere in between.

Please freely share your thoughts on this subject when you are approached by your steward.

I’ll report back to you about what the stewards find.

Be careful with your journalsentinel.com e-mail

A friendly reminder: Be careful how you use e-mail.

E-mail has become an essential part of daily life in the newsroom. We use it to message sources, talk to editors, and remind each other of assignments and work priorities.

It is easy to slip into casual conversation in your e-mail exchanges with co-workers as well as those outside the building. But remember, e-mail is a work tool, and many people could have access to anything you've written.

So, the best rule to live by is: Don't write anything in an e-mail you don't want seen by anyone other than the person to whom you are writing.

Please try to sign up again for Guild blog updates

We really think it’s fixed.

Repeated problems have interfered with people receiving e-mail reminders when new items are posted on the Guild’s blog. We thought we had this fixed before, after a glitch wiped out the subscription list, and we asked people to sign up again, but that didn’t work.

Even if you signed up earlier, you need to sign up again to get the latest news about what's happening in the Guild's bargaining unit.

To subscribe, please scroll down the right side of the blog, mkeguild.blogspot.com, type in your e-mail address and hit "keep it fresh." You'll get an e-mail reminder each time the blog is updated. Really. (We also have an RSS feed option if you would rather add a direct link to the latest blog items from your home page.)

Impact mixed for worker’s compensation change

The company has notified the Guild about changes being made to the way worker's compensation claims are paid.

In the past, if you were injured on the job and a claim was approved, you would be paid 100% of your missed wages.

Under the change, which is allowed by state law, you would be paid 66 2/3% but no taxes would be required.

The company says most claimants would end up with more money than they would have if they had to pay taxes.

The change will mean that the pay will not count toward your pension.

The claims will now be paid out by a third party. The company already uses a third party to process worker's comp claims. The reason? It's saving the company money.

This could affect the timeliness of someone being paid; and this could conceivably affect one's pension, since the payment won't count toward pension.

Please, stay safe and don't get hurt on the job -- because these changes might make things harder for people who are injured at work.

Next Guild membership meeting is September 18;
make sure to come and vote for your leadership

Where are you reading Fifty-One? Take it with you on vacation, snap a picture with your digital camera or cell phone and e-mail it to us. Send your photos to rjeps@yahoo.com and it may appear in a future issue of Fifty-One.

Once again, the election season is upon us -- and sooner than you might think.

Before you cast your ballot for governor, attorney general or sheriff, you need to vote for the next leaders of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild. At the next membership meeting, at noon Sept. 18 at Turner Hall, Guild members will elect five officers and five at-large board members to guide us through another year, with terms starting Oct. 1. The new Executive Board then will pick other union leaders.

You don’t have to circulate any nomination papers to get on the ballot, but this is a good time to start thinking about how you can serve your union. Offices to be elected are the president (our top leader and public spokesperson), 1st vice president (in charge of grievances and other forms of contract enforcement), 2nd vice president (in charge of membership, mobilizing and communications), secretary (in charge of the Guild office as well as taking notes at meetings), treasurer (our chief financial officer) and five board members (all expected to be active in committee work as well as attending board meetings).

Candidates for any office should contact President Jennie Tunkieicz or Secretary Kawanza Newson. Nominations also will be accepted from the floor.

The new board will name four steward leaders to coordinate membership, mobilizing, grievances and stewards in different parts of the bargaining unit; chairs for the Health and Safety, Human Rights, Communications, Social and Organizing committees; other Communications Committee members (a newsletter editor, a Webmaster and a technology coordinator, to look after our computer and other equipment); and possibly other Grievance and Representation Committee members (to help enforce specific contract provisions). Steward leaders and vice presidents then will name stewards. It’s not too early to start thinking about any of these positions -- and a few of them are vacant right now, so you could move into the job right away.

Talk to Jennie, 1st Vice President Greg Pearson or 2nd Vice President Amy Rinard if you’re interested.

Also at the membership meeting, we’ll decide how many delegates to send to the international Guild’s 2007 sector conference; elect those delegates (and maybe some alternates); pick one of them to also represent us at the Communications Workers of America’s international convention; and vote on whether to keep dues at the current low rate.

Hetzner and Mark Johnson elected to Guild board

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members have elected Amy Hetzner as treasurer and Mark Johnson as an at-large board member in special elections. Hetzner, a Waukesha Bureau reporter, was appointed interim treasurer by the local's Executive Board after longtime Treasurer Bob Helbig was named to the management position of Journal Sentinel deputy business editor.

The vote keeps her in the post through the end of Helbig's term Sept. 30.

Before taking over our books, Hetzner was serving her second term as an at-large board member. She's also chair of a special joint wage study committee, has been active on our Human Rights Committee and assisted our Bargaining Committee with research during recent contract talks.

Johnson, a metro general assignment reporter, was picked to fill the remainder of Hetzner's board term, through Sept. 30. He is in his third term as a steward leader, coordinating stewards, membership recruiting, mobilizing and contract enforcement for metro day-shift reporters, Wisconsin news bureaus and MKE.