Shop Paper #5: Editorial Integrity and More

August 25, 2022

Hello Shop F!

Setting a record for our most consistent string of bargaining dates yet, we were back at the bargaining table for the third time in 6 weeks on Thursday, August 25th. Cheers to our bargaining committee, unit rep Anthony Napoli, lawyer Thomas Lamadrid and all the observers who attended the three-hour session.

We kicked off the session by asking to further our discussion from the previous session on our editorial integrity proposal. Forbes counsel seemed to have forgotten that this was the very first proposal we presented back in March, and was confused that we weren’t going to waste time by formally presenting it again. Once it was settled that we had given them our editorial proposal and management didn’t need us to present again, Forbes counsel Patrick Collins asked his go-to question, “What problem are you trying to solve here and why do you want it in a CBA?”

We explained that there have been many instances where the newsroom at Forbes has been pushed or pressured by the business side of the company. (Most of the members of our shop will be able to come up with a few examples of this with little effort.) For us, the purpose of this proposal is to ensure there is well defended and codified protection of editorial products and that we are enshrining best practices in the contract. Management asked for examples of sponsors interfering with editorial content. Bargaining committee members Jonathan Ponciano and Alex Konrad spoke about a number of issues: lists where sponsors were fielding pitches from reporters about content, list editors being pressured to include a sponsor on the list, sponsors placing people on a conference panel without disclosing the relationship, including affiliate links to articles after publication, and selling list members the rights to rewrite their biography.

Management did ask questions throughout, looking for clarification and details on our examples. After being silent for the past two meetings, Managing Editor Joyce Bautista Ferrari and Human Resources Vice President Ali Intres participated in the discussion. In fact, the meeting felt most productive when they were involved. Management indicated that while they don’t disagree on the principles in our proposal, they do have concerns about addressing editorial integrity in the contract. They don’t want to arbitrate over this issue. 

This is where we disagree. Editorial integrity is an appropriate topic to include in a CBA to  ensure that members are independent from the business side of the company and can push back when pressure is applied. As you all will remember, this was something we tackled as a union as recently as February with the launch of the Premium Profile product. We succeeded in getting assurances from Randall Lane and Mike Federle that “editorial integrity is absolute.” But this issue could have been avoided with a clear and transparent policy about editorial integrity and journalistic ethics. As for the arbitration question, the editorial integrity committee that is part of our proposal would address the majority of these issues long before they ever reached arbitration.

The discussion over editorial integrity went on for about 90 minutes. We then turned to counter proposals from both sides. We discussed our counter proposals on bulletin boards and non discrimination. The non discrimation proposal from Forbes had a sentence that would have prohibited members from “solicitation of employees for Union membership or dues on Company time.” We pushed back strongly on this. The company cannot interfere in the operation of the Guild and telling our members when we can speak to someone is interference. 

Management sent over three counter proposals: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, Access to Content, and Grievance and Arbitration. Forbes’ DEIB proposal was very disappointing and didn’t demonstrate any real commitment to making Forbes a more diverse or equitable workplace. Forbes proposed forming a committee with two members from the union and two from management that would meet quarterly and propose at least two initiatives to management annually. The proposal contained no benchmarks or goals, and nothing that would hold the company accountable.

We don’t have another bargaining session on the books yet but hope to have dates to share in the next few days. 

Get Involved: We are looking for new people to join the bargaining committee. Contact Andrea Murphy: andreadmurphy@gmail.com to learn more.

In solidarity, your bargaining committee:

Merrilee Barton

Katie Jennings

Alex Konrad

Andrea Murphy

Jon Ponciano