A reporter’s rant: When we’re the story, you know it’s not good news

journalist pam sword speaks at a labour rally in March 2016 during the lockout of chronicle herad workers. - tony tracy photo

I see this photo every time I bring up my Facebook page. It’s on top of the default “photos of you” gallery. 

Union organizer Tony Tracy took the pic during a labour rally on March 8, 2016, in support of Chronicle Herald workers. Two months previously, 61 Halifax Typographical Union reporters, editors, photographers, columnists and support staff went on strike during a contract dispute.

Pam Sword took to the stage with a simple message: Fight for your rights as a worker. It’s hardly an uncommon theme at labour rallies but anyone who’s worked with Pam knows that’s not just a slogan for her. An editor and reporter with 35 years at the Herald, she’s one of the most talented, passionate journalists I know. 

Behind her to the left is the perhaps less passionate but certainly talented hirsute figure of Stuart Peddle, who’s also worked both the reporting and editing sides. Known for his bad puns and love of Monty Python and Tom Waits, he joined the Herald about 25 years ago. The rest of the folks on stage were also Herald newsers (that’s me on the right in the Elmer Fudd cap). 

Reporters usually don’t crave the spotlight - particularly print journos - but we were determined to stand by our principles. If that meant taking the stage in front of the cameras and shouting slogans at rallies, c’est la vie.

The company was just as determined to disrespect its employees by hiring replacement workers and denigrating their contributions. Editors are apparently the equivalent of backroom clerks in some small minds, and ha ha, we’ll see you in the snowbanks in January.

They also spent millions in hedge fund loans to create a new regional news network with the head-scratching name SaltWire. 

It took 19 months to reach a settlement. Despite our best efforts, 26 people were shoved out the door - leaving 25 unionized workers in Halifax - and our wages were cut by five per cent. 

photo by stoo metz

Pink slips

It was the latest round of cuts in an onslaught that began in 2009, when the Herald laid off workers for the first time in its history. 

The internet’s “free” promotion platforms had sucked the life out of the Herald’s advertising revenues. Like many others in the media industry, management couldn’t figure out how to handle the new financial and technological reality. In these situations workers - or more specifically the big juicy target of salary expenses - are usually in the firing line. 

I was one of the many people who took the long walk to the corner offices to get pink slips. I managed to hold onto my job through the dreaded seniority “bumping” process and the vacancies left by buyouts. 

I joined the Herald in March 1998 as a copy editor after toiling alone or with one or two other people in weekly newspaper offices. I recall feeling not a little intimidated when I came in for my job interview at the large, full-to-capacity newsroom on Argyle Street in Halifax.

At the time, the newsroom boasted about 100 people in the Halifax newsroom and at (now defunct) provincial bureaus.  

The year after I was hired, pay inequity and other grievances brought the newsroom into the HTU fold along with press and composing room workers. Founded in 1869, it’s one of the oldest unions in Canada. 

A decade later the newsroom moved out of the venerable Argyle Street building (now demolished with a convention centre in its place) to leased space on Joseph Howe Drive. Then came the first layoffs, the strike and the disintegration of SaltWire after hedge fund creditors finally came after their chunk of flesh. 

a rare shot of me smiling at work. this was taken in 2008 as the herald prepared for a move from its original location on argyle street to joseph howe drive. 

Newsroom decimation

Last month, Postmedia came out on top of the creditor protection battle with a $1-million purchase. As a result of its inevitable quest for “operational efficiencies,” there are now only 11 people left in the HTU. 

It’s hard to fathom. Eleven people. Compared to the hundred-plus when I walked into that bustling, intimidating newsroom 26 years ago. 

Go back to the top photo. None of those people work at the Herald anymore. Well technically I do but more on that later. 
Pam and Stuart were laid off last month along with another editor and reporter Jen Taplin.

Heartbreaking, infuriating, deflating. You run out of adjectives when you’ve lost so many skilled and dedicated colleagues over the years. Besides the Herald, the SaltWire debacle has affected reporters, editors, print operators and many others at the Telegram, the Guardian and beyond.  

As for me, my immune system went rogue in February 2023, attacking perfectly innocent blood cells. This disorder - on top of other health challenges that may include long COVID but that’s another story - has sidelined me to long-term disability.

I spend a lot of time napping, reading (I’ve read all the books by now, as one of my favourite TV characters once said) and taking pictures of birds and sunsets on short walks with my spouse. 

I’m about to hit the big six-zero so my employment future is punctuated by a whole bunch of question marks.

the chronicle herald is now owned by postmedia after the saltwire network's financial woes forced it into creditor protection. - john mcphee

What now?

It’s a crazy business, this journalism thing. The bitter contract disputes, power of corporate owners over workers, financial uncertainty and the politicians and business people who find it convenient to demonize the media. 

Have I asked myself over the years why in H.L. Mencken’s name did I go into this work? Absolutely.

Like a lot of jobs, it can be tedious, stressful and exhausting. But in journalism you’ve got the added bonus of the tyranncial clock. If you’re a reporter, you usually have to file at least one story - sometimes several if you’re covering court, council/legislature meetings and other institutional beats - per day. You’ve got to get it right, quickly, and make it concise, understandable and engaging - tight and bright as they say in the business.

On the editing side, you’re often hit with a pile of copy at the end of the day. If there are mistakes, you have to pick up on that. If it’s an incoherent ungrammatical mess - that’s rare but believe me I’ve handled some doozies in my years - you must massage the copy into something readable, again as fast as humanly possible.

By far the most challenging part is resisting a primal scream when somebody has left their dishes unwashed in the newsroom kitchen sink - again. Journalists may be creative geniuses who are essential to democracy and social stability but wow some of them are slobs.

But seriously folks, I’ve admired and respected my colleagues over the years (as with any gathering of humans, there were exceptions). Journalists are an interesting breed - curious, open-minded, often quirky. But steely enough to step over the usual polite boundaries to get at the truth.

Most days it’s an interesting and fulfilling job. We get to put a bullhorn in the hands of people whose stories might go untold, explore the shadowy corners of an argument, keep the powers-that-be accountable and, if you’re lucky, do some good. 

As our ranks diminish, government and business interests will have more power to control the narrative, spin their agendas. More people will get sucked into the black hole of online conspiracy theories, disinformation and outright lies. 

Journalists don’t like to be part of the story. But like the cold bitter days of 2016, this time we don’t have a choice.