{"id":4574,"date":"2014-08-14T16:30:47","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T21:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=4574"},"modified":"2014-08-15T09:33:28","modified_gmt":"2014-08-15T14:33:28","slug":"guild-battling-bosses-over-byline-quota-at-pioneer-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/08\/14\/guild-battling-bosses-over-byline-quota-at-pioneer-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Guild battling bosses over byline quota at Pioneer Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CNG<\/a><\/a>They\u2019re going at it again.<\/p>\n

The latest war of words between the Chicago Newspaper Guild<\/a> and Sun-Times Media<\/a> involves a requirement that reporters for the suburban Pioneer Press<\/a> group produce a minimum number of stories each day or face disciplinary action.<\/p>\n

Chafing under what the Guild calls \u201ca confusing but strict quota,\u201d reporters for the 32 Pioneer Press newspapers and websites are required to write a minimum of two and half stories a day. \u201cThey\u2019re being warned if they don\u2019t produce the 2.5 minimum, they could lose their jobs,\u201d Guild member Ralph Zahorik wrote in an online post<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

In order to meet the quota, some union members have resorted to writing \u201cskimpy stories,\u201d according to the Guild post. \u201cWe have to scramble to meet our quotas so we go for the low-hanging fruit,\u201d one reporter told Zahorik. \u201cIt\u2019s News lite,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur reporters are professional, award-winning journalists,\u201d Craig Rosenbaum, executive director of the Guild, was quoted <\/a>as saying. \u201cThey should be focusing on substantive, hard-hitting news, not fluff.\u201d \u00a0The Guild has filed a grievance demanding that the company \u201cimmediately cease and desist from issuing further discipline based on a story quota that is not only unfair, but also erodes the journalistic integrity and professionalism of the journalists that the Guild represents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Management sources confirmed that reporters are expected to generate a steady flow of content throughout the week in order to keep the papers\u2019 websites fresh with new material.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a>

Robert K. Elder<\/p><\/div>\n

The latest imbroglio took on a particularly personal tone with the Guild singling out Robert K. Elder, editor-in-chief of Sun-Times Media Local, for championing a quota system similar to one he enforced as regional editor of AOL\u2019s Patch.com<\/a> from 2010 to 2012.<\/p>\n

Reached Thursday, Elder declined to comment and referred all inquiries to Ted Rilea, the company\u2019s vice president of labor relations.<\/p>\n

In his official reply to the Guild, Rilea called the Pioneer Press quota \u201ca reasonable response to our changing landscape [that is] embraced by just about every other news organization around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we\u2019ve instituted new daily goals, we have seen traffic on our Pioneer sites grow, significantly,\u201d Rilea wrote to Rosenbaum. \u201cAll the company has asked is that your members work with us, not against us, in achieving this critical goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is the full text of Rilea\u2019s message to Rosenbaum:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Craig,<\/em><\/p>\n

I was given a copy of the Newspaper Guild\u2019s most recent posting regarding \u201cPioneer Press Quotas.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As you are aware, our industry is undergoing profound change, which means that we must also change in order to meet the expectations of our readers and advertisers. Before making changes two years ago, Pioneer Press reporters were still filing stories based on a weekly print cycle. That meant that days would go by without updated content on corresponding news websites where our growing digital audiences and advertisers were demanding updated content on a daily basis. It only makes sense that to meet those needs, the sites need fresh content every day, not just on the last day of the print deadline.<\/em><\/p>\n

An empty news website is, by any measure, the surest way to a losing strategy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since we\u2019ve instituted new daily goals, we have seen traffic on our Pioneer sites grow, significantly. All the company has asked is that your members work with us, not against us, in achieving this critical goal.<\/em><\/p>\n

The strategy adopted by Pioneer Press is not only a reasonable response to our changing landscape, it is one embraced by just about every other news organization around the globe. The expectation is set forth in clear guidelines that have been shared with the reporters. The guidelines explicitly direct managers to exercise reasonable discretion and common sense in dealing with reporters who have provided acceptable reasons for not meeting the daily expectation. For example, the guidelines provide managers with discretion to treat work on breaking news or investigative pieces as having satisfied the expectation. Managers have in fact been flexible in their implementation of the guidelines and have responded appropriately when issues have been brought to their attention.<\/em><\/p>\n

Currently, just about all staff members are meeting or exceeding the story expectation. Every week a review of the previous week\u2019s posting takes place. A recap on the week\u2019s work is done throughout the newsroom and appropriate action, if necessary, takes place.<\/em><\/p>\n

At a number of meetings we have discussed this subject, and the Guild has taken the position \u201cwe just don\u2019t want to do this.\u201d Continued opposition by Guild leadership increases the risk that our websites will remain empty for days at a time, a result that damages our ability to remain competitive. Once again, we encourage Guild leadership to work with us, rather than against us, in implementing a change designed to ensure our collective success.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/em><\/p>\n

Ted Rilea<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Pioneer<\/a>

Pioneer Press newspapers<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They\u2019re going at it again. The latest war of words between the Chicago Newspaper Guild and Sun-Times Media involves a requirement that reporters for the suburban Pioneer Press group produce a minimum number of stories each day or face disciplinary action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4574"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4587,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4574\/revisions\/4587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}