On The Ground From The Insider Strike

Daniel Spielberger reports from the Financial District.

On Tuesday afternoon, I visited the Insider Union picket line in the heart of New York City’s Financial District and spoke to media workers who had walked out of their newsroom and were on strike. Though an unsettling wave of smoke and heat were settling in, the vibe was cheerful; people waved signs, chanted, and handed out pamphlets to pedestrians and delivery people dropping off packages.  

Last week, more than 250 members of the Insider Union voted to authorize the strike, after members say they were unable to reach an agreement with management for over two years. The CEO of Insider said that the outlet will work with international teams that aren’t on strike to continue producing content during the duration of the labor action. 

“We gave [the negotiations] everything we had. We tried to reach a fair deal, and we couldn’t get there,” Katie Balevic, a weekend reporter at Insider who held a “Don’t Click On Insider.Com” sign, told Study Hall. “We are going strong,” she said over her colleagues’ chants. “We have the people. We have the power, we have the energy, and we’re going to keep fighting until we get our fair contracts.” 

The union is fighting for a 5 percent guaranteed wage increase in 2023 and a 4.5 percent bump for subsequent years. In addition, a main point of contention between the union and management is healthcare costs. Last year, management switched some employees’ healthcare plans, which increased the costs of medications and also gave them worse coverage, which the union called illegal. In response, the NewsGuild of New York, which represents the union, filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board in November 2022. After assessing the charge, the NLRB issued a complaint last month. In a statement, Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild, said, “it is past time for Insider management to fix the problem it created by unlawfully increasing our members’ healthcare costs and diminishing their coverage.”  

This isn’t the union’s first rodeo. In April, Insider Union showed its muscle when management announced plans to lay off 10 percent of employees. According to James Rodriguez, a senior reporter on Insider’s Discourse team, the union saved 22 of those jobs by negotiating a voluntary departure from the company with severance for some union members, in exchange for getting others off the layoff list.

“It’s really tough to see insanely talented coworkers go like that,” Rodriguez said. “We want to make sure that with this contract, we protect all of our workers in the future.” 

In addition to contention over the Unfair Labor Practice charge and workers’ wages, the strike was also triggered by the looming prospect of automation. Earlier this spring, just one week before the layoffs, Insider editor in chief Nicholas Carlson sent an email to staff detailing his enthusiasm for AI tools like ChatGPT, and expressed a desire to experiment with them in the newsroom. 

“Our company’s leaders are really excited about AI, which is, I think, really worrying to us who are out writing the news every single day,” Samantha Stokes, a reporter on the startups and VC team, said. 

The union is fighting to ensure that their labor isn’t replaced, and wants to prevent management from outsourcing “union work to non-union employees, freelancers, and possibly even artificial intelligence tools,” they say on their website. 

Stokes, who has been part of bargaining sessions over the last two years, spoke about the hostility she witnessed in the negotiation room. She said she has seen management and company representatives engage in “name-calling” and “disrespectful” behavior, like telling bargaining committee employees they are embarrassed to work with them and dismissing their proposals as “pie in the sky.” 

“It’s been really tough,” she said. “I feel like we’re all out here trying to make the company better for everybody. And it’s just frustrating to not get any sort of reciprocity.” 

As a testament to the hostility of management toward workers, Meghan Morris, a tech investigations correspondent, shared on Twitter that Insider published an article she hadn’t finished drafting without contacting her first. “I’m horrified this story went out and urge you not to read it,” she said. 

Though management refused to come to the table over the weekend, sources said Tuesday that the bargaining committee received a counteroffer. “It’s closer to what we want, but it’s not quite there yet, from what I’ve heard,” Lily Oberstein, an insights and analytics editor, said. And so the strike continues. 

Posted at Liberty Plaza’s loading dock, Oberstein said the union has prevented the building from receiving some of their mail for the past 3 days by passing out pamphlets to drivers trying to enter. In solidarity with the striking media workers, some members of the teamsters, like UPS drivers, also refused to deliver packages. 

How can the rest of us support the strike? The union urges people not to click on any Insider articles or videos, for one. And freelance writers are asked to not pitch or accept assignments from the outlet. Supporters of the strike can also donate to the hardship fund to support striking workers who aren’t receiving a salary (the New York Times Guild announced that they are donating to it). 

“It’s been really eye opening to see that there are some people who won’t really do the right thing for their workers until we make them do the right thing,” Balevic said. 

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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN KIM KARDASHIAN PUTS YOU ON BLAST

The fame-obsessed Kardashians are known for fearlessly delving into various matters of utmost, geopolitical importance, like wellness vitamins, Dolce & Gabbana, the best salads to get in Calabasas, and how many balloons are necessary for a 4-year-old’s birthday party. And, they might say, we’ve been lucky to get an inside look at their lives on reality TV over the last 16 years. In the latest episode of Hulu’s The Kardashians, Kim, Khloé, and Kourtney’s ex, Scott Dissick take on something that’s really gotten under their SKNN — a Variety review describing season two as “plot-free” and “work-obsessed.” Variety’s chief TV critic Daniel D’Addario wrote that, compared to the previous E! version of the series, which went on for 20 seasons, Hulu’s The Kardashians felt like a “document of tight control” adding, “nothing happens on the show anymore.” He noted how instead of actually addressing the family’s controversies and scandals, such as Kim’s ex-husband, the series focuses on their aspirational lives as girl bosses.

D’Addario’s review was so unnerving that Kim used it to address the haters at large. “We give real content. We share every last detail of our lives. I talk about me wanting to lose weight and I am fucking brutalized. I am the face of all of this criticism,” the SKIMS founder said.  

The morning after the latest episode aired, I spoke to  D’Addario about the surreal experience of having the most recognizable people in the world publicly — and eloquently — critique your critique. 

Study Hall: What was it like seeing Kim, Khloé, and Scott refute your review?

Daniel D’Addario: I’ll say this much: every writer wants to be read. I think that anyone who’s a critic hopes that their words have an impact. So seeing the figures I’ve written about respond to and metabolize what I’ve written in real or semi-edited time, you know, I was flattered. I can’t say that I think the show will meaningfully change on the basis of what I wrote. And that’s not necessarily what I was seeking. 

SH: In response to your piece, Kim says, “people grow and evolve.” Can you comment on them using your review as a chance to address the haters and touch upon their own evolution as reality stars? 

DD: I think in a funny way, we were saying similar things, just from a different perspective. My perspective is that they’ve grown somewhat withholding, and that the show has changed. In terms of what it’s willing to depict, her perspective is ultimately, ‘We have and that’s a good thing.’ There were attempts to refute what I’d written at the factual level. But I think in the grand scheme, her big takeaway was the same as mine, just from the perspective that it’s a good thing that we have lives that are complicated, and that we reserve a little more of ourselves from public view. And you know, ultimately, it’s not the end of the world. 

SH: Have you gotten any backlash from fans?

DD: Well, maybe I’m just in a little protective bubble. Or maybe people watch the show over the course of a week. I haven’t heard anything. But friends of mine who watch the show have said ‘how funny it is to see your name on the air.’ Friends of mine who read the piece tended to arrive at the same conclusion I did. They said, ‘If you’re saying they don’t talk much about what’s really happening in their lives, and they take this much runtime of the show to talk about your article versus what’s actually going on in their lives, it becomes a sort of feedback loop.’

SH: It seems like celebrities nowadays use their platforms to shame critics who actually speak their mind and do more than PR. What does this incident say about the current state of entertainment journalism and how we are allowed to consume and write about pop culture? 

DD: I want to be super clear, I don’t feel shamed at all. I felt as though they engaged with the piece as much as they could within the framework of the show. I didn’t feel as though they went after me on a personal level or insulted me or anything like that. With that said, of course their megaphone is larger than mine. They are the executive producers of their own show, along with Ben Winston, and they control what we see. I think it emphasizes that, if you’re willing to have some pushback, as I am, then your words as a critic can have an impact because I don’t know how many dissenting voices Kim, Khloé, and Scott hear over the course of their day on a normal day. I respect her for seeking out what she calls ‘the feedback.’

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SCOOP: STUDY HALL IS ORGANIZING AN NYC MEETUP

In case you missed it, Study Hall is organizing a meetup at Emma Peel Room in the Lower East Side, a neighborhood that, we’ve learned, is two miles away from the Financial District. Please choose a preferred time in our Doodle poll, which will close EOD. We have a $100 tab for drinks! Come grab a drink, chat, and meet Daniel, our newsletter editor who is in town! 

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COMINGS AND GOINGS

—Maria Cristina Sherman is now a music journalist at the Associated Press. Sherman will lead the entertainment and lifestyle departments’ music coverage.
—Elena Saavedra Buckley is now a senior editor at Harper’s Magazine. Send pitches of in-depth reported features and essays to [email protected].
—Molly Taft, who recently left Gizmodo / Earther, is now editing at The New Republic. Send “your best and weirdest and smartest climate takes” to [email protected].
—Hannah Critchfield is joining the investigative team at Tampa Bay Times.
—Emily Wilkins will start as a DC correspondent for CNBC later this month. Wilkins will cover Congress, policy, and regulations where business and politics meet.
—David Malitz and Robin Kawakami are joining the New York Times Culture desk as deputy editor and assistant editor directing audience, data, and digital publishing, respectively.
—Jon Wilde, editor in chief of Inverse and senior vice president of editorial for Inverse, Nylon, and Mic announced his departure from Bustle Digital Group.
—Wolfgang Ruth is leaving Vulture as senior social media editor. In his last act on the social team, he will heroically livetweet part three of the Vanderpump Rules reunion.

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EVERYTHING ELSE

—Study Hall, a newsletter and online community for freelance journalists, is now owned by OutVoice, a freelancer management and payment platform for media companies. Read more in Axios. In order to seek feedback on upcoming fixes and improvements, a community town hall will be scheduled next week. Stay tuned for details.
—The Los Angeles Times is reportedly cutting 74 positions. 
—Meta threatened to pull news content from Instagram and Facebook if the California Journalism Preservation Act passes, which would require tech platforms to share some ad revenue with media companies. (Pay me what you owe me!) In 2021, Meta pulled news items from Facebook in Australia after the government passed a similar law.
—On Monday, hundreds of Gannett journalists walked out as part of a labor action against the company’s chief executive who is slashing local newsrooms across the country.
—Spotify is cutting 200 staffers from its podcast division, who represent about 2 percent of the company’s global workforce. The layoffs are the latest in a series of job cuts in the tech industry.
—Free speech? Censorship? A secret third thing? In a Twitter Spaces for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Elon Musk admitted the tech company is experiencing financial problems because, he says, advertisers don’t like that “we’re insisting on free speech.” But, as NBC News reporter Ben Collins said in a tweet, maybe, just maybe, the site is losing money because it’s “propping up of Nazis, [the] impersonation of brands, and an increasingly unusable website where insane people have purchased the right to more speech.”
—The number one rule of fight club is “Thou Shall Not Cross The Picket Line.” So when former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter shared an Insider story written by EIC Nicholas Carlson about The Atlantic’s takedown of now-former CNN boss Chris Licht (whew that was a mouthful), some media workers were not happy. Keep in mind, members of the Insider Union are on strike. While people of the internet debated whether or not clicking on a story published when a newsroom is on strike is a picket-line-crossing faux pas (it is!), we can all agree that sharing it in the first place certainly is.
—Most people don’t care about your Succession hot take, apparently. A whopping 1,000 articles have been written about the show, with just 17,000 readers, Axios reports. Compare that to the more than 65,000 people stuck reading the same 56 articles about Young Sheldon. Who is looking out for them?????

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