Source:newsguild.org

Members of the NewsGuild-CWA marked World Press Freedom Day on May 3 by launching a campaign to protect the Right to Report. The union is asking all those who treasure freedom of the press to sign a petition and join the fight to protect this cherished right.

Press Freedom Day has special significance for Americans this year, because of President Donald J. Trump’s unbridled attacks on the media and journalists, the union says.

Examples proliferate:

• The president refuses to release his taxes.
• The White House has discontinued the practice of releasing visitors’ logs.
• News organizations are being excluded from press briefings and denied access to high-ranking government officials.
• The president demonizes reporters, calling them “enemies of the people.”
• An army of operatives – foreign and domestic – spreads fake news.

Attacks on the media are nothing new, of course, and they’re not limited to the current occupant of the White House or to Washington, DC, the NewsGuild-CWA points out.

• Journalists were arrested while covering protests in Ferguson, MO, and Standing Rock ND.
• Responses to Freedom of Information Act requests are delayed, often for years, at the local, state and federal levels.
• Reporters and photographers are frequently harassed while covering the actions of local police.

“These are not ordinary times,” says Bernie Lunzer, president of the NewsGuild-CWA. “Journalists are expected to be objective in our reporting, but we cannot ignore threats to the right to report and the people’s right to be informed.

“We have a special responsibility to stand up for freedom of the press and to fight for transparency in government. That is a responsibility we take very seriously,” he said.

After an inauspicious beginning, journalists have begun to find their footing in covering the new president, he said.

“Journalists are persevering. They’re asking tough questions. Reporting the facts. Finding connections.

“And people are paying attention” he noted. “After years of shrinking newsrooms, many media outlets are hiring reporters, subscriptions are increasing, and ratings for TV news programs are soaring.

“Journalists are essential to democracy,” Lunzer wrote in an email about the campaign. “They are witnesses to events around the world who record history as it happens. To do that, they must have unfettered access to events ranging from White House news conferences to protests.”

The campaign will fight threats to press freedom and advocate for the right to report.

He urged supporters to sign the petition and visit the Right to Report website frequently.

NewsGuild members at 29 publications owned by Digital First Media and GateHouse Media organized special activities to mark World Press Freedom Day.

Stand up for freedom of the press!

Sign the petition.

#Right2Report
#PressFreedom

DEBORAH RICHMOND | CWA Canada Web Editor

Don Genova has become the ‘go-to guy’ for frustrated freelancers.

There aren’t many unions that would spend time and money to take up the cause of non-members who haven’t been paid for their work. But that’s exactly what the Canadian Media Guild / CWA Canada is doing.

Don Genova, president of the CMG Freelance branch for more than 15 years, is the champion of more than a dozen independent contractors who are owed $40,000 by an Alberta multi-media publisher that has a track record of tardiness when it comes to paying up.

As a result of the efforts by CMG, Genova has become the “go-to guy” for freelancers who face a host of problems ranging from low rates or non-payment to publishers that expect writers to accept contracts that “ask for the moon and the stars.”

When a member contacted Genova early last fall to enlist his help in her quest to wrest payment from Edmonton-based Venture Publishing, he wasn’t surprised. There had been complaints for several years that the company was lax about paying freelancers.

In August last year, CanadaLandShow.com carried an article by Jay Smith, who found two freelance writers who were willing to go on record about the difficulties they encountered trying to get payment from Venture.

Genova suspected there were many more out there. He put word out through The Story Board, a website for freelancers that was an initiative of CMG and the Canadian Writers Group.

“We came up with 13 freelancers who had not been paid, some for up to two years. They were owed a total of more than $40,000,” said Genova.

A freelancer himself, he knew that, as individuals, many are afraid to speak up because it might jeopardize their career. He also knew that the union had to do what was right for these unpaid workers, members or not.

“The point of the exercise is to get them their money, to show them (freelancers) what we can do and that they can have a voice.”

He said the CMG will pursue the case even if the freelancers don’t join the union (although one of them has signed up).

“We’ve already spent quite a bit of money on this and their dues ($150 a year) would not cover our costs.”

Genova started out by discussing the situation with an official at Venture Publishing who admitted the company was slow in paying freelancers. Shortly afterward, the CMG Freelance member got paid as did one other independent writer.

“But there were still 11 people in the group who had not been paid,” said Genova. “And then, out of the woodwork came an illustrator who was owed $8,500.”

He worked with CWA Canada’s legal counsel to craft a demand letter that was sent to the company in November. It is not threatening and suggests possible solutions such as payment plans.

The letter did not produce results, so the CMG issued a news release on Feb. 22 to kick off a name-and-shame campaign that attracted some media coverage. (It also prompted more unpaid freelancers to contact Genova, bringing the total number up to 15.)

At the same time, letters were sent to a handful of companies that contract Venture to produce magazines or other media for them. They are being asked to take their business elsewhere until Venture begins paying freelancers in a timely manner.

The explosion of digital media companies and disruptions in the news industry have led to tremendous growth in the number of freelancers worldwide. What also increased were complaints about exploitative publishers, media companies that try to force bad contracts on freelancers and others that expect them to work for little or no pay.

Media unions such as CWA Canada, which at one time saw freelancers as a threat to their members who were full-time employees with benefits, have done an about-face and now strive to support them.

Genova noted that freelancers who join CMG get a lot in return for their money. They can rely upon experienced staff for advice on contracts and negotiation strategies. Among other things, membership gives them access to lower cost health and insurance benefits, free online training, special webinars and inclusion in a directory available to clients.

CMG Freelance represents hundreds of people who are contracted under the freelance article of the collective agreement with the CBC, as well as about 100 independent writers and artists.

In 2011, CWA Canada created its free Associate Member program that offers student, volunteer and precarious media workers training, workshops, mentoring, networking events and paid freelancing or internship opportunities. Many of the more than 850 associate members move on to join CMG Freelance as they get established in their career.

– See more at: http://www.cwa-scacanada.ca/EN/CWeh/2017/1702_freelancers.shtml#sthash.Fju8bTWr.dpuf

Source: http://j-source.ca

By H.G. Watson, Associate Editor The news director of two BC radio stations has resigned over allegations that management asked staff—including editorial staff—to participate in a voluntary one day ad-sales blitz. Sean Eckford was the news director at Coast FM, in Nanaimo and Sechelt, for nine years, and Juice FM, in Duncan, for about a year and half. In late November, he found out that management had approached employees with their proposal. Eckford immediately started trying to find out what was going on, hoping he could “head it off at the pass.” “I went to [management] and said, ‘I am aware you are asking. I have concerns—here are my concerns. Can we talk about it?’” said Eckford. “I went to them before they had come to me about it.” Coast FM and Juice FM are part of the Vista Radio chain, which operates 41 stations across the country and has over 300 employees, according to its website. Both Wendy Gray, national news director, and Geoff Poulton, president of Vista Radio, declined to comment for this story. Eckford approached both Allison Mandzuk, regional manager for the BC coast, and Gray, who works in Ontario, via email, on Nov. 23. He was hoping Gray could provide guidance as to whether there was national policy on reporters being involved in advertising sales—he said Gray said she could not. “The essential message was no, the national news director for our chain saw no problem in asking reporters to sell ads on this one day, voluntary basis.” The GM, according to Eckford, also said he saw no problem with it. According to Eckford, his follow-up email to Gray went unanswered. “There was certainly an impression that they did not feel that this was a justified concern,” Eckford said. – See more at: http://j-source.ca/article/news-director-two-bc-radio-stations-resigns-after-editorial-staff-asked-sell-ads#sthash.6yopxjDa.dpufHe said he didn’t know what the motivation was behind the ad sales blitz, nor when it was to take place. It was the first time to Eckford’s knowledge that management had made such a proposal. The Canadian Association of Journalists’ policy paper on editorial independence from 2007 states that, “Journalists should avoid being spokespeople for products or companies and should disclose any conflicts of interest prominently so viewers, readers or online readers are aware,” and that a complete separation should be maintained between editorial and advertising staff. “What he did was a ballsy thing,” said Dale Bass, the CAJ board chair. “In our industry, at this time of year in particular, that’s quite a stand.” “You can’t have a reporter selling ads, even for one day,” added Bass. “It’s wrong. It compromises the public’s view of them.” A source at Vista Radio described reporters’ salaries as low. Eckford said that he didn’t know how much commission was offered. Eckford tendered his resignation on Nov. 23, on the phone with Mandzuk after it was obvious there would be no change in management’s position. “By staying on I would be essentially signalling that this was OK with me and I didn’t want to work for an organization where that was ok,” he said. “Nobody ever said to me that if you do not agree with this, you must go, you will be fired or forced out. That line I drew myself. I said, I won’t work for a place where this happens.” Eckford’s last day at Coast FM and Juice FM was Dec. 4. H.G. Watson can be reached at hgwatson@j-source.ca or on Twitter.

Source: cjr.org

Markus Beckedahl, the editor-in-chief and founder of Netzpolitik,org, working at a computer at the website’s office in Berlin, Germany, after an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, August 5, 2015. (Photo: AP)

Most people in the United States have probably never heard of the popular German news site Netzpolitik.org until this month. But it has been in the news for a reason it wish it wasn’t: the German government is threatening two of its reporters with treason. Their supposed offense? Reporting on leaked information about Germany’s mass surveillance capabilities.

These leaks did not come from Edward Snowden, but the content was eerily similar: they exposed the German government’s secret plans to step up internet surveillance.

The public reaction was swift. The investigation made world headlines and thousands of people marched in the streets to protest the clear violation of press freedom. Dozens of journalists and free speech advocates signed a letter challenging the government’s aggressive tactics. By Tuesday, the German Justice Minister had fired the country’s top prosecutor who brought the case. (On Monday, after some question about whether the inquiry would continue, Germany formally dropped the investigation despite the fact that some powerful members of the government wanted it to proceed).

While the story may be headed towards a just ending, it is one piece in a much larger story that has western government increasingly cracking down on journalism that dares report on mass electronic spying.

Journalism legend Duncan Campbell penned an incredible piece for the Intercept last week about his 40-year quest to report on the British government’s mass surveillance capabilities, despite Britain’s notorious penchant for harsh clampdowns when investigative reporting casts them in a bad light. He wrote:

“In my 40 years of reporting on mass surveillance, I have been raided three times; jailed once; had television programs I made or assisted making banned from airing under government pressure five times; seen tapes seized; faced being shoved out of a helicopter; had my phone tapped for at least a decade; and — with this arrest — been lined up to face up to 30 years imprisonment for alleged violations of secrecy laws.”

Campbell ended his retrospective on a high note, saying that “thanks to Edward Snowden and those who courageously came before, the need for public accountability and review has become unassailable.” However, the UK, which arguably has the most authoritarian approach to the press in the western world, has still refused to give an inch on the Snowden revelations—even as the GCHQ, Britain’s NSA equivalent, has been found to have broken the law over and over again by British courts.

Just two weeks prior to Campbell’s epoch, Intercept journalist Ryan Gallagher confirmed that the UK government continues to criminallyinvestigate the journalists at the Guardian who were involved in the Snowden story more than two years later. (This is on top of their deplorable detainment of Glenn Greenwald’s partner David Mirandaunder their “terrorism” law merely for traveling through the UK with encrypted Snowden documents on his person.)

In Australia, their government in the past year has passed a series of disturbing measures, not only dramatically expanding their surveillance capabilities, but criminalizing reporting on them as well. Their data retention law, which forces service providers to hold onto metadata, was passed, in part, “for the express purpose of determining the identity of a journalist’s sources.” Another national security law, passed at the end of 2014, expressly outlaws journalism on “special intelligence operations,” which, defined broadly could mean just about anything related to national security the government didn’t like.

Australia’s neighbor New Zealand raided the house and seized the computers of famed investigative reporter Nicky Hager (along with his children’s computers). Hager had recently written a popular book critical of Prime Minister John Key that was based on a leak, and was busy working on another major story based on the Snowden documents. (Disclosure: The organization I work for, Freedom of the Press Foundation, raised money for Hager’s legal defense.)

These crackdowns are not limited to the US’s main “Five-Eyes” spying partners, however. Japan is currently fuming over documentspublished by WikiLeaks showing the US has been spying on them, a fact they would not know if it wasn’t for another leak. Yet they too passed a draconian secrecy law in the post-Snowden era. In December 2013, after strenuous objections from the minority party and the Japanese public, the ruling Liberal Democratic party pushed through a law clamping down on the government’s supposed secrets, which could potentially criminalize their publication if they were obtained “illegally.” The US government had been pushing for the law and hailed its passage.

As NPR reported at the time, “The penalties for violators are harsh: 10 years in prison for civil servants who leak classified information; five years for citizens convicted of abetting leaks. The law covers defense, diplomacy, counterterrorism and counterintelligence.”

“Abetting leaks.” Don’t forget that’s what Glenn Greenwald was once accused of in the press, and what Fox News reporter James Rosen was accused of in court documents. It’s also known to many reporters as simply doing their jobs. (If only the prosecutor in that case was fired like his or her counterpart in Germany.)

If there was ever a doubt, journalism that surfaces the propensity of governments for mass surveillance remains a dangerous game.