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The media becomes an activist for democracy
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Nov. 23, 2021, 2:52 p.m.
LINK: twitter.com  ➚   |   Posted by: Laura Hazard Owen   |   November 23, 2021

Saying that it’s been unable to reach an agreement with New York Times management, Wirecutter’s union announced Tuesday that, as previously threatened, union staff will strike from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, Wirecutter’s busiest and most profitable period of the year.

The union also encouraged readers to boycott Wirecutter during that period, thus depriving the Times of that sweet sweet affiliate link revenue.

Additionally, there is a GoFundMe to help staffers make up “the hundreds of hours of overtime” they would have worked. As of Tuesday afternoon, $7,000 had been raised toward a $10,000 goal.

Wirecutter’s union says it is seeking wage increases totaling “about $300,000, spread over our 65 person unit.”

“The New York Times has a long history of productive relationships with unions to advance our shared objectives. We’re actively working with the Wirecutter Union to reach a collective bargaining agreement that continues to reward our employees for their work and contributions to The Times’s success, and we look forward to continuing those negotiations at the bargaining table,” Danielle Rhoades-Ha, VP of communications for The New York Times, said in a statement to Nieman Lab. “We’ve offered dates in early December to the Wirecutter Union, and are awaiting their response.”

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The media becomes an activist for democracy
“We cannot be neutral about this, by definition. A free press that doesn’t agitate for democracy is an oxymoron.”
Embracing influencers as allies
“News organizations will increasingly rely on digital creators not just as amplifiers but as integral partners in storytelling.”
Action over analysis
“We’ve overindexed on problem articulation, to the point of problem admiring. The risk is that we are analyzing ourselves into inaction and irrelevance.”