No NY Times today. No Wordle. No problem.
Honor the picket line. Don't visit any NY Times internet sites.
The truth is I have a love/hate relationship with The Times.
I read it every day online and Sunday I get the print edition.
I like many of the reporters.
I hate David Brooks.
I still remember their lies that contributed to the Iraq wars.
But many of their reporters are great.
I play Wordle first thing in the morning, sharing how I did with family and post it on Facebook.
Not today.
The Newspaper Guild - not the most militant union in the world - has called a one-day walkout of its members.
The Times Guild represents journalists as well as ad sales workers, comment moderators, news assistants, security guards and staffers at The Times Center, the company's events venue and virtual production studio.
Tech employees of the Times voted last March to unionize and have been trying separately to negotiate their first contract.
I wish I could turn to our local newspapers instead of The Times, but the Tribune and the Sun-Times are shells of their former selves and their former selves wasn’t that great to begin with.
And while many in print media management cries tears about their loss of readership in the current information market, the Times is very profitable.
Anyway, I’m staying off all Times internet sites today and honoring the virtual picket line. So should you.
There seems to be an upsurge in labor action among news workers.
Reuters (itself subject to a walkout of union members just a short time ago) reports:
In the media industry, journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, owned by Block Communications Inc, and the McClatchy-owned Fort Worth Star-Telegram are currently on open-ended strikes.
On Nov. 4 over 200 union journalists across 14 Gannett-owned news outlets – including the Desert Sun in California and New Jersey’s Asbury Park Press – participated in a one-day strike.
The Times recorded a profit of $69 million for the third quarter, up from $65 million in the same period last year.
Easier for me since I don't play wordle every day. But that doesn't matter.
This is a picket line, on the internet, and we honor it, and support the workers against their bosses.