“Management is constantly telling us to work harder, take on new responsibilities, and give up our rights,” @baltsunguild.bsky.social told The Objective, “so to see our hard work suddenly replaced by incoherent slop one day is just extra demeaning.”
Readers deserve journalism that lives up to our ethical standards regardless of how it is created. And journalists deserve to have a say in how new technology impacts our work.
Unit chairs at @baltsunguild.bsky.social & @pen-guild.bsky.social joined @middayonwypr.bsky.social to talk about their outlets' use of AI.
AI can be a tool to support journalists, but news organizations have deployed it in unethical ways without a human behind it.
www.wypr.org/show/midday/...
Tell management what you think: Click the link below to write a letter to The Sun’s owners and publisher.
actionnetwork.org/letters/resp...
Our 100%-AI-free analysis:
If management decides to stop playing games, embraces its multi-generational union and signs a fair contract guaranteeing competitive wages + consistent raises, The Sun can attract talent and shine bright.
Or they can keep doing this.
How thorough was that “review” of the AI slop, anyway?
The second sentence of the disclaimer calls Donald Trump the “former President.” The same error is duplicated in the lede.
It does not take a journalist to find out who the president is.
Sun management has once again disparaged our talented -human- reporters and their work, this time by filling more than half a page in today’s paper with AI slop.
We’ve filed two more unfair labor practice cases against @baltimoresun.bsky.social, which has been refusing to bargain with us for over 4 months — instead choosing to threaten our members with new union-busting policies.
Baltimore deserves better. We won’t be silenced.
Source: www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Arch...
Baltimore Sun owner David Smith’s -separate- company, Sinclair, released new financials this month showing that they’re close to making over $1 million off of their ties to The Sun in just 2025.
And yet, The Sun refuses to even negotiate wages with its union employees.
The latest move by @baltimoresun.bsky.social in its crusade to silence its union employees: a directive that bans any desk signage with messaging about collective bargaining, calling them “divisive.”
We’ve shown solidarity this way for decades. This is textbook union busting.
They’ve already shown what they will do if their employees don’t have union protections: fire them for raising the alarm about the Sun’s declining journalistic standards
David Smith and Armstrong Williams’ idea of a contract with union @baltimoresun.bsky.social staff:
• Gut long-held protections against unfair discipline and layoffs.
• Give management free rein.
• Silence staff from speaking out.
Unfortunately, this attack on free expression feels all too familiar. From the unjust firing of a reporter who dared to speak up, to the union gag rule that The Sun wants to force into our contract, we’ve seen too many attempts by management to erode our core values. We won’t stop fighting.
We stand in solidarity with Karen Attiah and our siblings at the @postguild.bsky.social. Journalists should not fear reprisal — especially from their employer — for doing their jobs.
Write the Post’s opinions editor Adam O’Neal and publisher Will Lewis:
actionnetwork.org/letters/wash...
Happy Saturday. Here’s another treasure that @baltimoresun.bsky.social tried to sneak into our contract:
“Employees shall be free to engage in any activities outside their working hours” that are not “in conflict with [the company’s] views expressed in its publications.”
🤔
We ran the numbers for @baltimoresun.bsky.social’s “best” offer: they want to rip nearly $800,000 worth of potential severance away from our members in the event of layoffs, averaging out at $27K per unit employee — and $42K for our longest-serving staff members.
That’s disparagement.
Source:
• SBGI SEC Form 10-Q (2nd quarter, 2025) www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...
• SBGI SEC Form 10-K (2024 Annual Report) www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...
The Sun emphasized the need to claw away steps and severance from its union staff via its economic package, which offers journalists $$ for appearing on Sinclair stations.
Meanwhile, Sinclair has disclosed making more than half a million in revenue off of The Sun since David Smith bought the paper.
The Sun’s “generous” wage offer: staffers give up nearly all guaranteed raises, but journalists get bonuses for hitting arbitrary click quotas — and face discipline if they don’t.
We suggested that they reward, not punish, staff for upholding quality journalism. They ignored us and walked away.
A column in The Baltimore Sun by the newspaper’s co-owner, conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, responding to the Baltimore Sun Guild’s criticism of his rhetoric toward trans people. It is titled “Censorship atrophies critical thinking.”
#TBT Remember when Sun co-owner Armstrong Williams responded to our concerns with a column about how a “free marketplace of ideas is indispensable?”
His and David Smith’s management tried to make us sign a gag rule, then walked away from contract negotiations because we wouldn’t muzzle ourselves.
.@baltimoresun.bsky.social
journalists face a gag order imposed by owner David Smith. “They’re trying to scare the union into silence,” says a @baltsunguild.bsky.social
leader, addressing the negotiating tactics used by the newspaper’s management. tinyurl.com/dbwhxwt8
Partially redacted text says “The Sun management is trying to muzzle the Guild. Not on our watch.” A logo in the lower right corner says “Baltimore Sun Guild.”
David Smith’s first order of business after purchasing The Baltimore Sun was to disparage the newspaper’s dedicated staff at an all-hands meeting.
Since then, his company has sought to silence any criticism from the union.
We get it, David: You can dish it, but you certainly can’t take it.
![Partially redacted text says that “The [Baltimore] Sun is taking out a contract on our livelihoods.” A logo for the Baltimore Sun Guild appears in the lower right corner.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bgtchuemejaufgu6d6n2imxa/bafkreicxte4kbisegqeg7j5cee5gxygnipcjxilavtndod57ollv7x6lfq)
Partially redacted text says that “The [Baltimore] Sun is taking out a contract on our livelihoods.” A logo for the Baltimore Sun Guild appears in the lower right corner.
We recently invited Baltimore Sun owner/Sinclair chair David Smith to the bargaining table — he suggested that he could get a deal done in “five minutes.”
That meeting never came. Instead, his lawyer declared impasse, and told us they’d implement a contract that silences union members.
Management has responded by disciplining Guild members who dared to speak up; and illegally hiring around the union to do David Smith and Armstrong Williams’ bidding.
Their idea for a contract: More ways to retaliate against our members, and far fewer guarantees.
We’re still around, and we’re still fighting. We’ve been busy trying to negotiate a deal that defends top-notch journalism, quality jobs and a strong union base at Baltimore’s newspaper of record.
Our union journalists work tirelessly to hold the powerful accountable, and that includes in our own workplace. The Baltimore Sun’s ownership wants us silent.
Send a message to David Smith and Armstrong Williams: Charm City won’t stand for millionaire union busters.
Baltimore deserves quality journalism, not muzzled union journalists. Tell David Smith and Armstrong Williams: Truth matters.
actionnetwork.org/letters/resp...
