NEW: McClatchy executives told NewsGuild journalists @pacnwguild.bsky.social that the company wants to publish AI-generated stories, create fake AI versions of reporters and bypass human review.
That’s not journalism. That’s slop, and we demand #NewsNotSlop!
www.status.news/p/mcclatchy-...
Sign the petition and tell @propublica.org management that @propublicaguild.org deserves a fair contract with AI protections. #NewsNotSlop actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...
Our members at @propublicaguild.org are fighting to protect their journalism and their jobs while @propublica.org management wants the right to replace our members and post slop content with no labels. Readers deserve better and so do our members! #NewsNotSlop
SLOP #NewsNotSlop
We could not agree more. It's why our @insiderunion.bsky.social held its recent rally, standing up for people-powered-journalism and why our Reuters Guild passed out flyers outside ReutersNext. Our members stand for #NewsNotSlop. You should too!
2/ Stand with our members and tell media bosses you want news, not slop! #NewsNotSlop
actionnetwork.org/petitions/st...
Word of the year: SLOP! @merriam-webster.com
"Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don't want to touch. Slop oozes into everything."
We could not agree more. Keep AI slop out of our news! #NewsNotSlop
www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/wor...
The fights aren’t over. We’ll face more in 2026 … and we’ll be ready. #NewsNotSlop
We shared a video of our members and those across
@newsguild.org standing up for people-powered journalism -- and how you can join the fight. #NewsNotSlop
Last week, our members sounded the alarm about AI, especially how the evolving technology is eroding the public’s trust in the news. We successfully launched our campaign website and a petition that nearly 1,900 people have signed already. #NewsNotSlop actionnetwork.org/petitions/st...
Hear from our members and those across @newsguild.org who are sounding the alarm about artificial intelligence -- and how you can join our fight. #NewsNotSlop
We've talked this week about how execs at for-profit media companies are implementing AI in ways that damage the credibility of the journalism on which you rely. It's the same at our nonprofit news organizations. Read this important thread below.... #NewsNotSlop
To the management of America’s nonprofit newsrooms: We are writing to you as the nation’s first-ever caucus of nonprofit newsroom unions, which is composed of the media workers representing journalism outlets across the country. Once again, our industry finds itself at an inflection point, facing the uncertainty of artificial intelligence. Like any new technology, AI can provide a potent new tool to assist us in our work if it is used responsibly, thoughtfully and ethically. However, we have already seen numerous failures in the implementation of AI at for-profit news outlets, where the economic incentive to use AI recklessly has at times degraded the otherwise high-caliber product our colleagues produce. From Axel Springer to Gannett, major for-profit publishers have unveiled flawed AI tools that are hallucinating false news articles or synopses, slowing down journalists’ workflows and otherwise threatening their editorial product. Nonprofit newsrooms can and must do better to uphold the mandates of our mission-driven organizations and ensure readers’ trust in our editorial product. Importantly, we are not calling for a ban on AI. Our message is simple — management must work with us to determine how to best implement this emerging technology and protect journalistic integrity.
To that end, we unequivocally demand that you commit to the following guardrails around AI in current or future collective bargaining agreements and in the implementation of such contracts: AI is rapidly evolving and most of its uses remain to be seen. Our unions will retain the right to bargain over its future implementation. Management will not lay off media workers as a result of implementing AI. Our members will not be disciplined if we decide AI is not the best tool for a job, and our members’ usage of AI tools will not be surveilled. Our outlets will not publish work that is entirely AI-generated, including, but not limited to, text, photos, videos, audio, translations or artwork. When we publish AI-assisted work, it will be clearly labeled as such, will be checked by a human editor and will follow a public ethics policy. Management will not strike deals to use our work — or the work of freelancers or contributors — to train AI without both our consent and our compensation. Many nonprofit newsrooms have already agreed to common-sense AI provisions, and we applaud them. Publications including Grist, the Associated Press, CalMatters/The Markup and the Chicago Reader enshrined contract language that included such guardrails as protecting unit members against being laid off as a result of AI and only implementing new AI tools when the unit consents.
But some nonprofit newsrooms appear set on racing to the bottom. Management at ProPublica, which stands at the forefront of investigative journalism, has repeatedly refused in negotiations with its workers to agree to even the most basic limits on publishing AI-generated content or laying off media workers as a result. At The Marshall Project, the preeminent source for enterprise reporting on the criminal justice system, management has gone many months without responding to their workers’ contract proposal concerning AI. At VTDigger, which provides vital local news to Vermonters, management has offered insulting AI provisions that would allow them to lay off reporters as a result of AI and that include zero guardrails for unionized journalists on how AI impacts their editorial product. And at The Texas Tribune, a distinguished voice covering the Lone Star State, after previously agreeing to AI guardrails, including layoff protections, management recently rejected these provisions in favor of unchecked discretion to roll out AI. Our newsrooms’ readers and small-dollar donors have already expressed their displeasure with the poor decisions leaders of the media industry are making with respect to AI. Our colleagues at for-profit newsrooms are providing cautionary tales. And now, we, the journalists and staff who produce the country’s nonprofit news, demand that you work with us to protect the integrity of our work and ensure AI is used responsibly. The future of journalism depends on it. Respectfully, The unionized journalists and media workers of CalMatters/The Markup, the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, Chicago Sun-Times, Consumer Reports, EdSource, In These Times, Jacobin, High Country News, The Marshall Project, MinnPost, New York Focus, ProPublica, The Salt Lake Tribune, Spotlight PA, The Texas Tribune, VTDigger and contributors from the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project
A set of logos of participating nonprofit newsrooms, including: The Freelance Solidarity Project, National Writers Union, Texas Tribune Guild, CVJC Guild, Salt Lake News Guild, New York Focus Union, Marshall Project Guild, CR Guild, Jacobin Union, In These Times Union, Calmatters & The Markup Guild, VTDigger Guild, Edsource Guild, Sun-Times Guild, High Country News Union, Spotlight PA Union, MinnPost Union, and ProPublica Guild
Read and share our position statement, and sign the NewsGuild-CWA’s petition on AI join us in our fight for #NewsNotSlop!
Read and share the Caucus of Nonprofit Newsroom Unions' position statement, which FSP-NWU endorses to represent our members who freelance for these companies, and sign the NewsGuild-CWA’s petition on AI. And if you are a freelance worker, join NWU in the fight for #NewsNotSlop!
We are already winning on AI - but there are many more fights to come in '26 #NewsNotSlop
More than 50 contracts across our union include language that directly addresses artificial intelligence. Earlier this week, we released our demands #NewsNotSlop
➡️ www.newsnotslop.org/demands
We’re highlighting some of the best contract language enforcing these demands in the workplace here:
CNNU Logo December 5, 2025 To the management of America’s nonprofit newsrooms: We are writing to you as the nation’s first-ever caucus of nonprofit newsroom unions, which is composed of the media workers representing journalism outlets across the country. Once again, our industry finds itself at an inflection point, facing the uncertainty of artificial intelligence. Like any new technology, AI can provide a potent new tool to assist us in our work if it is used responsibly, thoughtfully and ethically. However, we have already seen numerous failures in the implementation of AI at for-profit news outlets, where the economic incentive to use AI recklessly has at times degraded the otherwise high-caliber product our colleagues produce. From Axel Springer to Gannett, major for-profit publishers have unveiled flawed AI tools that are hallucinating false news articles or synopses, slowing down journalists’ workflows and otherwise threatening their editorial product. Nonprofit newsrooms can and must do better to uphold the mandates of our mission-driven organizations and ensure readers’ trust in our editorial product. Importantly, we are not calling for a ban on AI. Our message is simple — management must work with us to determine how to best implement this emerging technology and protect journalistic integrity.
To that end, we unequivocally demand that you commit to the following guardrails around AI in current or future collective bargaining agreements and in the implementation of such contracts: • AI is rapidly evolving and most of its uses remain to be seen. Our unions will retain the right to bargain over its future implementation. • Management will not lay off media workers as a result of implementing AI. • Our members will not be disciplined if we decide AI is not the best tool for a job, and our members’ usage of AI tools will not be surveilled. • Our outlets will not publish work that is entirely AI-generated, including, but not limited to, text, photos, videos, audio, translations or artwork. When we publish AI-assisted work, it will be clearly labeled as such, will be checked by a human editor and will follow a public ethics policy. • Management will not strike deals to use our work — or the work of freelancers or contributors — to train AI without both our consent and our compensation. Many nonprofit newsrooms have already agreed to common-sense AI provisions, and we applaud them. Publications including Grist, the Associated Press, CalMatters/The Markup and the Chicago Reader enshrined contract language that included such guardrails as protecting unit members against being laid off as a result of AI and only implementing new AI tools when the unit consents.
But some nonprofit newsrooms appear set on racing to the bottom. Management at ProPublica, which stands at the forefront of investigative journalism, has repeatedly refused in negotiations with its workers to agree to even the most basic limits on publishing AI-generated content or laying off media workers as a result. At The Marshall Project, the preeminent source for enterprise reporting on the criminal justice system, management has gone many months without responding to their workers’ contract proposal concerning AI. At VTDigger, which provides vital local news to Vermonters, management has offered insulting AI provisions that would allow them to lay off reporters as a result of AI and that include zero guardrails for unionized journalists on how AI impacts their editorial product. And at The Texas Tribune, a distinguished voice covering the Lone Star State, after previously agreeing to AI guardrails, including layoff protections, management recently rejected these provisions in favor of unchecked discretion to roll out AI. Our newsrooms’ readers and small-dollar donors have already expressed their displeasure with the poor decisions leaders of the media industry are making with respect to AI. Our colleagues at for-profit newsrooms are providing cautionary tales. And now, we, the journalists and staff who produce the country’s nonprofit news, demand that you work with us to protect the integrity of our work and ensure AI is used responsibly. The future of journalism depends on it. Respectfully, The unionized journalists and media workers of CalMatters/The Markup, the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, Chicago Sun-Times, Consumer Reports, EdSource, In These Times, Jacobin, High Country News, The Marshall Project, MinnPost, New York Focus, ProPublica, The Salt Lake Tribune, Spotlight PA, The Texas Tribune, VTDigger and contributors from the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project
Logos: The Freelance Solidarity Project, National Writers Union, Texas Tribune Guild, CVJC Guild, Salt Lake News Guild, New York Focus Union, Marshall Project Guild, Consumer Reports Guild, Jacobin Union, In These Times Union, CalMatters & The Markup Guild, VTDigger Guild, Edsource Guild, Sun-Times Guild, High Country News Union, Spotlight PA Union, MinnPost Union, ProPublica Guild.
Read and share our position statement, and sign the NewsGuild-CWA’s petition on AI join us in our fight for #NewsNotSlop!
It's what we have been saying all week - readers deserve news, not AI-generated slop #NewsNotSlop
We support the #NewsNotSlop campaign and join our American colleagues @newsguild.org in their demands for ethical #AI in journalism 🇺🇸✊
The NUJ sends solidarity to unionised journalists across the pond who are sounding the alarm on the threat AI poses to jobs, workers’ rights, and trust in news. The @newsguild.org #NewsNotSlop campaign calls for urgent protections that both workers and audiences can rely on.
Huge thank you to our guest speakers and to everyone who turned out for our rally today outside @BusinessInsider, as well as our virtual rally. One thing is for certain: We won’t stop fighting to protect the integrity of our work. #NewsNotSlop!
This after Insider laid off 25 % of staff in May. We stand in solidarity with Insider Guild. Readers deserve #newsnotslop written by humans, for humans.
And stand with all @newsguild members as they fight to protect the integrity of the journalism they produce. Sign the #NewsNotSlop petition
actionnetwork.org/petitions/st...
RALLY WITH US: Today at 1 PM ET, join us outside @BusinessInsider HQ and let’s tell management we stand for people-powered journalism, not AI slop. #NewsNotSlop @newsguild
ACTION DAY: Today, our union has two important actions happening to sound the alarm about AI: First up, our Reuters Guild members are distributing informational flyers outside #Reuters NEXT.. .. #NewsNotSlop
You can also show your support for not only us but all @newsguild members fighting to protect the integrity of the journalism they produce. Sign the #NewsNotSlop petition. (3/3)
actionnetwork.org/petitions/st...
RALLY FOR NEWS, NOT SLOP: Join us at 1PM ET Thursday outside @BusinessInsider HQ. We will be rallying to let management know what we think of their plans to roll out AI-generated news stories. Details here … #NewsNotSlop (1/3)
