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After one of the most difficult summers in recent memory, the Guild and The News are in rebuilding mode.

And while we are still processing the repercussions of our colleagues’ departures, there are reasons to hope for better days ahead. Foremost among them is the addition of several new faces to the newsroom, which has welcomed five new full-time staff reporters and editors — largely in the decimated sports department —
and four part-time print and digital reporters.

Our new members have brought a welcome dose of energy into a battered workplace. Their work will likely be instrumental in a new initiative spearheaded by management and supported by the Guild to reinvent The News as a collection of digital businesses and to build subscription and other sources of revenue into a sustainable future. (More on this in a future issue of the Frontier Reporter.)

In the meantime, the Guild has worked hard to guard the provisions of our contract, to extend our jurisdiction  to newly launched products like the Kenmore and Tonawanda Sun newspapers and to help our members through a challenging time in the industry.

This issue of the Frontier Reporter — in stark contrast to the last one — takes a more optimistic tone as we attempt to work together with management to put The News back on solid ground.

— Colin Dabkowski, vice president of mobilization and communication

Read the full version of the Frontier Reporter here:
http://www.buffaloguild.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/fall-reporter.pdf

There is no way of spinning this positively.

Though we have known for at least a decade that tougher times were on the horizon — and that The Buffalo News has been comparatively lucky in this decimated industry — that foreknowledge has not blunted the pain and disappointment of this moment.

By mid-July, when the last of those targeted for a buyout walked out of the newsroom, 17 Guild members had left The News. The skills they took with them — decades of experience editing, headline-writing, reporting, designing and using their collective talent to tell the stories that mattered — leaves our institution greatly diminished.

The sudden departure of so many of valued colleagues leaves those of us who remain feeling numb. And it leaves our loyal readers wondering about its inevitable effect on the quality of the newspaper we put out every day and the website we update every minute.

(more…)

There is no way of spinning this positively.

Though we have known for at least a decade that tougher times were on the horizon — and that The Buffalo News has been comparatively lucky in this decimated industry — that foreknowledge has not blunted the pain and disappointment of this moment.

By mid-July, when the last of those targeted for a buyout walked out of the newsroom, 17 Guild members had left The News. The skills they took with them — decades of experience editing, headline-writing, reporting, designing and using their collective talent to tell the stories that mattered — leaves our institution greatly diminished.

The sudden departure of so many of valued colleagues leaves those of us who remain feeling numb. And it leaves our loyal readers wondering about its inevitable effect on the quality of the newspaper we put out every day and the website we update every minute.

(more…)