Forgive us for being a bit cagey in this story about our town hall meeting on Wednesday night. We striking journalists of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh met with about 40 supporters to discuss local journalism at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette once our strike is over and we return to the newsroom.
Those who attended were engaged citizens, people who pay attention to local media and aren’t afraid to get involved. Many of the ideas they offered are real gems, and we’ll work on implementing a number of them in the future, but we won’t blab about them now because, well, they’ll be better as surprises later on. It’s our cheesy way of saying, “Stay tuned.”
What we will say, though, is that we were energized by the discussions, which continued in small clusters of people once the meeting concluded.
The gathering wound up taking place in what strikers call “strike HQ,” a suite of offices kindly donated by the United Steelworkers at their headquarters building on the Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown. Ten strikers packed in with the attendees. After an introduction and setting of goals by striking photojournalist Steve Mellon, his striking photojournalist colleague Emily Matthews got things rolling by giving an update on our strike situation — We’ll get to that in a minute.
Then Bob Batz Jr., editor of this strike newspaper, stepped to the front. Mostly, he said, we wanted to hear everyone’s ideas for how they can go forward together.
Several supporters who are currently not subscribing to or reading the PG said they’d like to have a newspaper that provides more in-depth reporting, including covering the region’s many boards and authorities, which are rarely covered by the media, because they impact everyone’s day-to-day lives.
One attendee wants the editorial staff to be “bloodhounds for truth.” She said, “A large section of the working class has been neglected. We have a bourgeois media, giving five-minute reports. They’re not pursuing the truth.” A good example: The disaster that struck East Palestine, Ohio, could happen here with the many railroad cars with dangerous chemicals and other cargo traveling through Pittsburgh at high speeds.
Supporters discussed the importance of obituaries and the need to reach younger and new audiences with new formats, and the need to have journalists who look like the people they cover.
“I want my damn paper back,” said one.
Journalists and community members pledged to continue to talk and work together over the coming days on a shared vision for Pittsburgh journalism.
In her strike update, Matthews told the crowd that the strikers, who’ve been going without PG paychecks since walking out at noon on Oct. 18, 2022, recently were buoyed when the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., affirmed its administrative law judge’s January 2023 ruling that said the PG was breaking federal labor law in several ways. The board affirmed the judge’s ruling that the PG must take the workers back under the terms of their last contract and bargain in good faith for a new one. To get that enforced, and to have the health care returned to workers in three other PG unions on strike, the strikers continue to look for injunctive relief from the federal courts.
As Matthews stressed, as has been the case from the start, the company at any time could follow the law and settle the strike.
The PUP is the publication of the striking workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
