美国国家公共电台 NPR--Gannett journalists are walking off the job to protest papers' working conditions

Gannett journalists are walking off the job to protest papers' working conditions

Transcript¹

Journalists at Gannett newsrooms in seven states are set to walk out Monday in a strike to protest working conditions. It's the largest such action in the company's history.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Today and tomorrow, hundreds of journalists at newspapers across this country walk off the job.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

They all work for Gannett, which owns papers across the country, including USA Today.

INSKEEP: NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik joins us. Hey there, David.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE²: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: How widespread is this strike?

FOLKENFLIK: So it's starting this morning in seven states - California, Arizona, Texas, Indiana and New Jersey³, near where I live. That includes papers like the Arizona Republic, the Austin American-Statesman, some big ones where journalists are working without contracts. They say that they have not received fair pay and compensation, but more to the point, haven't received it in many, many years. And meanwhile, their newsrooms have been cut back deeply.

INSKEEP: David, we've paid a lot of attention to the cutbacks in local newsrooms. And in fact, they've been cut so savagely⁴ over the years, I was a little surprised there's anybody left in some newsrooms to walk out. What do they want?

FOLKENFLIK: You know - and by the way, that's literally⁵ true in some cases. Salinas, Calif., a city of 150,000 owned by Gannett, has no local reporters or at last check, none locally based.

INSKEEP: Wow.

FOLKENFLIK: Journalists want to draw attention to their circumstances, sure, but it's a more profound critique. Today is the day in which shareholders⁶ are meeting. They want to draw attention to, among other things, the compensation of millions of dollars in pay and shares to chief executive Mike Reed. He's been at the helm at a time where for the last four years you've had these merger⁷ of these two large newspaper companies, Gannett and former GateHouse community newspaper company. I talked to the president of the News Guild⁸ in recent days. He says those newspapers have been cut by Gannett since that merger four years ago by 54%.

And you can see it throughout the properties - the meagerness of the report at times. Sometimes just one or a handful of staffers are intended to report on the texture⁹ of lives in all these cities and communities. One newspaper in Springfield, Ill., where the editor is based and also overseeing the editor in Lakeland, Fla., several states away. Another smaller one nearby - if you look at the top five stories on any given day, it looks like two or three of them are going to be about Powerball winnings. That is something that could be produced by bots.

INSKEEP: How does Gannett explain itself?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, they talk about the tough times of the news business, which have been significant and real. They talk about a new news leader they brought over from McClatchy, and they say this will be part of a new strategy to infuse real life and vigor¹⁰ into their local reporting. But the financial realities of that merger that I talked about a few moments ago are such that they were required to cut, initially¹¹, it looked like between 2 to $300 million. Now it looks like it's more like $400 million in cuts. And I think that scythe¹² cutting across the newsrooms across the country is what you're seeing really as - much more as a result of that.

INSKEEP: Well, this short-term walkout is being led, I know, by the News Guild, which represents staffers at a lot of news outlets¹³. Do they have very much leverage¹⁴?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, you know, they've won some wins. They've been organizing it in digital and print newsrooms around the country in recent years because of these pressures on the industry. You know, in Pittsburgh, there's been a many months long strike at the Post-Gazette that has not really yielded any more advances for the workers than what they were experiencing in the years that negotiations¹⁵ were taking there to achieve. But meanwhile, at The New York Times, most august name in news, after years of sort of conflict, you saw a recent pact¹⁶ in which there was a 10% minimum increase for all newsroom employees and a 7% signing bonus and a lot of other concessions¹⁷ as well. So I think you're seeing to some degree wind at the back of these News Guild workers, even as I think the greater dynamics¹⁸ in the industry and especially at Gannett are very daunting¹⁹.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's David Folkenflik. Thanks so much.

FOLKENFLIK: You bet.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

4 savagely   

adv. 野蛮地，残酷地

参考例句：

• The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。
• He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

7 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

8 guild   

n.行会，同业公会，协会

参考例句：

• He used to be a member of the Writers' Guild of America.他曾是美国作家协会的一员。
• You had better incorporate the firm into your guild.你最好把这个公司并入你的行业协会。

9 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

10 vigor   

n.活力，精力，元气

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在，她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。

11 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

12 scythe   

n. 长柄的大镰刀，战车镰； v. 以大镰刀割

参考例句：

• He's cutting grass with a scythe.他正在用一把大镰刀割草。
• Two men were attempting to scythe the long grass.两个人正试图割掉疯长的草。

13 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

15 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

16 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

17 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

18 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

19 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。