Oct. 3 meeting: Steven Waldman on saving local news
Media Guild of the West members,
Please attend our upcoming Media Guild of the West quarterly membership meeting on Oct. 3rd at 5:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. CT!
Now that we have Media Guild of the West members in good standing from the Los Angeles Times, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News newsroom guilds – with many more to come – we’ll be developing more programming and policy ideas on how we can fight for stronger newsrooms and a brighter future for local journalism across the Greater Southwest.
Our October guest speaker is Steven Waldman, founder and president of the journalism policy coalition Rebuild Local News. Steven will briefly update us on ideas to keep newsrooms like the Los Angeles Times and Dallas Morning News under local control and to jailbreak newsrooms like the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Wall Street’s clutches.
We’ll also be voting on a proposed resolution supporting A.I. protections for news workers. The resolution would authorize Media Guild of the West to engage in support of bills like California’s Assembly Bill 459 (Kalra) that might give journalists more protections against being exploited by A.I. models.
IMPORTANT ELECTION REMINDER: Nominations for the 2024-2025 Media Guild of the West executive leadership seats close as soon as the Oct. 3rd membership meeting begins. (Check with your newsroom’s Unit Council for details about your upcoming Unit Council races, which may differ.)
The Media Guild of the West Elections Committee will offer an election timeline update at the membership meeting.
To nominate someone for one of the Media Guild of the West positions for the two-year term beginning in January 2024, send a nominating petition via email to the Elections Committee at the email address elections-committee@mediaguildwest.org with the subject line “Petition for MGW Guild Nomination.”
The nominating petition must be submitted by a member in good standing and include the names of nine other members in good standing. Here’s where Media Guild of the West’s Executive Committee nominations currently stand:
President: Matt Pearce, Los Angeles Times
Vice President: Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times
Secretary: Colleen Shalby, Los Angeles Times
Treasurer: Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times
At-Large Officer #1 and At-Large Officer #2: Josh Connelly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram. (Megan Cardona, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has withdrawn.)
Unit Representatives for the Los Angeles Times, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Morning News: To be filled by the respective winners of the Unit Chair elections.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns or feedback, please feel free to reach out to the Executive Committee at ec@mediaguildwest.org! See you soon.
Matt Pearce
President, Media Guild of the West
The NewsGuild-CWA Local 39213