Pioneer Press is target of Save Journalism Day rally

Both locally and nationally, journalism jobs are disappearing and newsroom staffs shrinking. That much has been widely reported.

Left unanswered is how downsizing of the news media, the so-called Fourth Estate of politics, will affect public life. Twin Cities media workers of all kinds raised precisely that point Dec. 11, when they gathered outside the Pioneer Press building downtown St. Paul.

"Who is going to ask the questions if the newsroom is gutted, if we aren\’t here?" asked Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter Chris Serres, one of a handful of speakers to address the crowd lined up along the sidewalk in front of the newspaper\’s headquarters.

Demonstrators gathered outside the Pioneer Press. Photo by Michael Moore

Minnesota Newspaper Guild organizers planned the rally in coordination with similar demonstrations nationwide, as Guild members observed Save Journalism Day in protest of layoffs and cutbacks – 44,000 in the past five years – that they say compromise newspaper standards.

But the St. Paul event had a flavor of its own, particularly given the backdrop of an ongoing legal dispute between the Pioneer Press and the Guild over the company\’s proposal to indefinitely freeze union members\’ pension benefits.

More, the rally came just 10 days after the Pioneer Press, now managed by MediaNews Group Inc., pared its staff by 40 positions, including 21 in the newsroom.

The company cited declining advertising revenues in making the cuts, but Pioneer Press staff members wondered how the newspaper would increase its revenues with 40 fewer people on the payroll.

"We\’re the ones who make the newspaper successful; we\’re the ones who make the newspaper profitable," said Pioneer Press reporter Brian Bonner. "Without us, no one reads the newspaper."

Bonner called on newspaper management to "work with us for a better newspaper." But he also warned, "If you work against us, you\’ll find yourself working alone."

The rally made clear, however, that Pioneer Press workers are anything but alone in their fight. Workers from the rival Star Tribune buoyed their ranks, as did representatives from the Minnesota AFL-CIO and Attorney General-elect Lori Swanson, who told newspaper employees, "You are what makes our system work."

Solidarity, according to Star Tribune reporter Randy Furst, is the best tool newspaper workers have in the fight against downsizing.

"This is a battle for all of us, for all the unions," Furst said. "There\’s a great deal at stake in terms of journalism, in terms of jobs. We have to stand together and fight this cutting, cutting, cutting."

And in case the rally\’s impromptu sound system failed to carry Furst\’s message to the executives on the Pioneer Press building\’s upper floors, participants released 100 black, hydrogen-filled balloons into the air at the rally\’s conclusion – one balloon for every job Publisher Par Ridder, in a speech to newspaper employees, envisioned cutting between 2005 and 2007, according to Pioneer Press reporter Mara Gottfried.

"We\’re going to keep putting out a quality newspaper," Gottfried added. "But we really hope more employees don\’t get the axe."

Michael Moore edits the St. Paul Union Advocate. Visit the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly\’s website, www.stpaulunions.org

More photos from Monday\’s rally, courtesy of Chris Polydoroff