Soccer reporter banned for doing journalism

Laurel Pfahler had been covering her city’s Major League Soccer team, FC Cincinnati, since before it was a Major League Soccer team. Her coverage ended when the team informed her that her credentials that allow her into the stadium on game day would not be honored. ”This is bad…bad for journalism and bad for sports […]

Enforcing our rights to our web content shouldn’t be this hard

Today the National Writers Union (NWU) was joined by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) in comments filed with the U.S. Copyright Office on a proposed rule for “Group Registration of Updates to a News Website”. In its current rulemaking, the Copyright Office — after consulting news […]

Deadline to File Claim Against L’Officiel is Dec. 7

Have you freelanced for L’Officiel? Were you, like dozens of other freelancers, not paid what you are owed? You may be eligible for double damages! Last July, following advocacy by FSP-NWU and our coalition partners, the City of New York announced that they settled a lawsuit brought against L’Officiel USA, the American subsidiary of a […]

The State of Our Union

State of the Union: NWU is doing well, with many weaknesses and limited capacity. As of this writing we have just over 1,000 current members, which fluctuates up to 1200. We are holding our own, numbers wise, but we are growing stronger internally, which is the key, and the prerequisite for growing. Today, the union […]

Senator Scott Wiener announces CA Senate Bill 988, the Freelance Worker Protection Act

Senator Wiener Introduces Bill to Expand Freelance Worker Protections SACRAMENTO – January 31, 2024 — Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) announced Senate Bill 988 (SB 988), the Freelance Worker Protection Act. SB 988 provides basic protections — enforced by the State Labor Commissioner and the Attorney General — for freelance workers, including the right […]

Imparcialidad Periodística en el Conflicto Palestino-Israelí

Desde los injustificables ataques de Hamás contra civiles israelíes, el ejército israelí ha matado a más de mil cuatrocientas personas en Gaza, donde además ha cortado los alimentos, el agua y la electricidad a más de dos millones de personas. En el momento de escribir este artículo, se está efectuando una limpieza étnica masiva. Israel […]

NWU Stands with WGA/SAG-AFTRA!

The National Writers Union stands in solidarity with the workers of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA. Central to the strike is the industry’s use of AI, for which SAG-AFTRA is demanding “informed consent and fair compensation”. As a union of multidisciplinary writers and media workers, we’re acutely aware of the way creative labor is devalued and […]

Freelance Isn’t Free Passes in L.A.

The Los Angeles City Council has passed a city-wide version of Freelance Isn’t Free, which will enact some much-needed basic protections for freelancers in the city. The city’s iteration of the law is comparatively limited, applying only to freelancers who live in the city of Los Angeles proper. However, we are confident that the LA Freelance Isn’t Free […]

Lobby Day in Albany

Four NWU-FSP members joined the Fund Excluded Workers Coalition on a lobby day trip to Albany in late January. As part of the coalition, we are advocating for New York to enact the Unemployment Bridge Program, a permanent $500 million fund that will provide the equivalent of unemployment insurance to workers excluded from traditional unemployment, […]

Inter-Union Town Hall on Artificial Intelligence

Dozens of members of NWU, WGAE, NewsGuild and NABET got together on Zoom in early February for a virtual town hall about AI in the newsroom. NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss opened the call by giving a brief overview of how ChatGPT works, followed by a quick demonstration of what that AI chatbot might spit out […]