Baltimore Sun Guild

They’ve already shown what they will do if their employees don’t have union protections: fire them for raising the alarm about the Sun’s declining journalistic standards

David Smith and Armstrong Williams’ idea of a contract with union @baltimoresun.bsky.social staff:

• Gut long-held protections against unfair discipline and layoffs.

• Give management free rein.

• Silence staff from speaking out.

Unfortunately, this attack on free expression feels all too familiar. From the unjust firing of a reporter who dared to speak up, to the union gag rule that The Sun wants to force into our contract, we’ve seen too many attempts by management to erode our core values. We won’t stop fighting.

We stand in solidarity with Karen Attiah and our siblings at the @postguild.bsky.social. Journalists should not fear reprisal — especially from their employer — for doing their jobs.

Write the Post’s opinions editor Adam O’Neal and publisher Will Lewis:

actionnetwork.org/letters/wash...

Happy Saturday. Here’s another treasure that @baltimoresun.bsky.social tried to sneak into our contract:

“Employees shall be free to engage in any activities outside their working hours” that are not “in conflict with [the company’s] views expressed in its publications.”

🤔

We ran the numbers for @baltimoresun.bsky.social’s “best” offer: they want to rip nearly $800,000 worth of potential severance away from our members in the event of layoffs, averaging out at $27K per unit employee — and $42K for our longest-serving staff members.

That’s disparagement.

Source:

• SBGI SEC Form 10-Q (2nd quarter, 2025) www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...

• SBGI SEC Form 10-K (2024 Annual Report) www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...

The Sun emphasized the need to claw away steps and severance from its union staff via its economic package, which offers journalists $$ for appearing on Sinclair stations.

Meanwhile, Sinclair has disclosed making more than half a million in revenue off of The Sun since David Smith bought the paper.

The Sun’s “generous” wage offer: staffers give up nearly all guaranteed raises, but journalists get bonuses for hitting arbitrary click quotas — and face discipline if they don’t.

We suggested that they reward, not punish, staff for upholding quality journalism. They ignored us and walked away.

A column in The Baltimore Sun by the newspaper’s co-owner, conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, responding to the Baltimore Sun Guild’s criticism of his rhetoric toward trans people. It is titled “Censorship atrophies critical thinking.”

#TBT Remember when Sun co-owner Armstrong Williams responded to our concerns with a column about how a “free marketplace of ideas is indispensable?”

His and David Smith’s management tried to make us sign a gag rule, then walked away from contract negotiations because we wouldn’t muzzle ourselves.

Baltimore Sun Guild journalists face a gag order imposed by owner David Smith | Baltimore Brew “They’re trying to scare the union into silence,” says a Guild leader, addressing the negotiating tactics used by the newspaper’s management.

.@baltimoresun.bsky.social
journalists face a gag order imposed by owner David Smith. “They’re trying to scare the union into silence,” says a @baltsunguild.bsky.social
leader, addressing the negotiating tactics used by the newspaper’s management. tinyurl.com/dbwhxwt8

Partially redacted text says “The Sun management is trying to muzzle the Guild. Not on our watch.” A logo in the lower right corner says “Baltimore Sun Guild.”

David Smith’s first order of business after purchasing The Baltimore Sun was to disparage the newspaper’s dedicated staff at an all-hands meeting.

Since then, his company has sought to silence any criticism from the union.

We get it, David: You can dish it, but you certainly can’t take it.

Partially redacted text says that “The [Baltimore] Sun is taking out a contract on our livelihoods.” A logo for the Baltimore Sun Guild appears in the lower right corner.

We recently invited Baltimore Sun owner/Sinclair chair David Smith to the bargaining table — he suggested that he could get a deal done in “five minutes.”

That meeting never came. Instead, his lawyer declared impasse, and told us they’d implement a contract that silences union members.

Management has responded by disciplining Guild members who dared to speak up; and illegally hiring around the union to do David Smith and Armstrong Williams’ bidding.

Their idea for a contract: More ways to retaliate against our members, and far fewer guarantees.

We’re still around, and we’re still fighting. We’ve been busy trying to negotiate a deal that defends top-notch journalism, quality jobs and a strong union base at Baltimore’s newspaper of record.

Respect the Sun and its Staff! Since The Baltimore Sun was taken over by David Smith and Armstrong Williams in 2024, staff and residents of the city have been taken aback by sliding journalistic standards in the paper. This is comp...

actionnetwork.org/letters/resp...

Our union journalists work tirelessly to hold the powerful accountable, and that includes in our own workplace. The Baltimore Sun’s ownership wants us silent.

Send a message to David Smith and Armstrong Williams: Charm City won’t stand for millionaire union busters.

Baltimore deserves quality journalism, not muzzled union journalists. Tell David Smith and Armstrong Williams: Truth matters.

actionnetwork.org/letters/resp...

Trump's New ABC Threat Exposes 'Business Decision' BS w/ Hannah Gaskill, Dan Belson | MR Live YouTube video by The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder

Thanks for having us on today, @majorityreport.bsky.social!

Catch our interview with @samseder.bsky.social about our year-plus of bargaining and the Orwellian “non-disparagement” clause that David Smith’s management is trying to force on us.

www.youtube.com/live/ULPaiRQ...

Respect the Sun and its Staff! Since The Baltimore Sun was taken over by David Smith and Armstrong Williams in 2024, staff and residents of the city have been taken aback by sliding journalistic standards in the paper. This is comp...

Send a message to David Smith and Armstrong Williams: Respect union journalists. actionnetwork.org/letters/resp...

To borrow from what we say when we run a correction on something we got wrong in an article: The Sun regrets the error, but this ownership sure doesn't.

A photo of helicopter seeds with the quote overlaid.

But we’ll end with Mark Twain. His alleged quote: “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you are mis-informed.” The Center for Mark Twain Studies says this is one of the quotes most commonly misattributed to Twain.

We could go on and on about the quotes, or rather misquotes, of everyone from Thomas Edison to Hannah Arendt.

A photo of a lighthouse with the quote overlaid. Cicero's lifespan is noted as 106 BC-43 AD

Then there are some questionable quotes from Cicero. Maybe they were lost in translation, or from him speaking from the grave: his birth and death dates are given as 106 BC to 43 AD — meaning he lived nearly 150 years.

Two photos of the seaside with the same quote overlaid. One attributes it to James Madison, the other to Thomas Jefferson.

Neither turn up in an online search of Franklin’s papers at Yale and the National Archives’ collection of founding fathers quotes Likewise, several quotes by fellow founding father James Madison are mistakenly attributed to Thomas Jefferson.

A picture of two landscape photographs with the misattributed quotes overlaid on them

Take these Benjamin Franklin quotes: “It is the responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” And, “The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.”

From consulting with a historian and our own research, we found some attributed to the wrong person, others paraphrased, still others with punctuation and spelling errors aplenty. And some were never even uttered by the person quoted.

A photo of a Thomas Sowell quote that has no clear source.

When the Baltimore Sun opened its new office last year, ownership saw fit to decorate it with “motivational quotes”. Motivational to someone looking to undermine journalism and our union, that is.

Respect the Sun and its Staff! Since The Baltimore Sun was taken over by David Smith and Armstrong Williams in 2024, staff and residents of the city have been taken aback by sliding journalistic standards in the paper. This is comp...

And the public has our back: 1,647 letters have been sent to David Smith, co-owner Armstrong Williams, and Publisher Trif Alatzas, demanding fair treatment.

Baltimore Sun employees are fighting for their newsroom and need your support. Join us.(5/5) actionnetwork.org/letters/resp...

The Sun Guild has fought back hard. We:
• Launched a public info campaign
• Held 4 rallies
• Withheld our 137 bylines during election week
• Filed 2 unfair labor practice charges
• Began bargaining to protect our union and win our first raise in over a decade. (4/5)