Update-1: NewsGuild president discusses bid to aid reporters

Founded in 1933 during the Great Depression, the NewsGuild has represented reporters and other employees at news operations through good and bad times, bargaining for improved wages and working conditions and promoting honesty in journalism.

Now, amid a pandemic and another extraordinary economic downturn, the NewsGuild is pushing hard for measures to aid its members as newspapers and other news media in the U.S. and Canada lay off and furlough reporters and cut their salaries to compensate for lost advertising revenue.

Among the steps sought by the NewsGuild is one that is extraordinary for a union representing journalists: financial aid from the government.

In this edition of Update-1, National Press Club Broadcast/Podcast team member Bill Loveless talks to Jon Schleuss, the president of the NewsGuild, about this and other steps the union is taking to protect its members. “It’s a concern,” Schleuss tells Update-1. “And what we’re looking at potentially is an extinction-level event where we could lose the entire news industry.”

NPC Broadcast/Podcast team co-vice chair Mike Hempen produces Update-1. The podcast can be heard on the Club website or on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and Spotify by searching for "NPC Update-1."