Digital Producers at Gannett Unionize with The NewsGuild of New York

Digital producers on Gannett's Atlantic Digital Optimization Team (DOT) have formed a union with the NewsGuild of New York, CWA Local 31003 to advocate for themselves, their profession and the communities they serve. These employees work across a five-state region that comprises 37 websites in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Digital producers’ main responsibility is preparing articles and multimedia content for online readers. They design the visual flow of stories, create graphics for social media, craft headlines, optimize content for search engines and curate readers’ experience with news through social media, website management and delivering alerts and newsletters. At Gannett, producers have witnessed restructuring, layoffs and furloughs within their newsrooms, and are continually challenged to meet mounting corporate demands to boost readership and revenue with fewer and fewer resources. Those who have survived these cuts have found it harder to do their jobs and the mounting pressure has hurt retention.

“For many of us, organizing as the Atlantic DOT Guild is about dignity, in one way or another. For me personally, it’s not just to fight for fair pay in relation to the ever-growing list of responsibilities falling on the shoulders of an increasingly weary production team; it’s also about advocating for the work we do and to underscore just how valuable it is,” said digital producer Jack McLoone. Read more here!