Reporters at the Cap Times in Madison announced they have formed a union and are seeking voluntary recognition from newspaper management. The Cap Times News Guild will include all of the organization’s reporters, making up the entirety of union-eligible workers on staff.
According to an April 30 press release, members of the Cap Times News Guild organizing committee presented Cap Times President and Publisher Paul Fanlund, editor Mark Treinen and other members of the Cap Times management with a request for voluntary recognition after 100% of eligible editorial staff signed authorization cards, signaling their desire to be recognized as members of the newspaper’s union.
In the Cap Times News Guild’s mission statement, reporters wrote: “Our union believes that accountability journalism that serves the community starts by building that same accountability within. We want to construct the systems that propel the values we hope journalism can create in our community: transparency, fairness and diversity.”
Diversity has been an issue at the Cap Times. At its apex, the company employed only two reporters of color at one time, and no people of color in management positions.
“As a Madisonian and the only Black reporter in the newsroom, I have a lot of respect for the Cap Times newspaper, and I value the chance to do quality community journalism,” said Cap Times local government reporter Enjoyiana Nururdin in a released statement. “Unionizing empowers us as a newsroom to ensure we are employing the best journalism practices for our community and beyond. This is an opportunity to strengthen our press corps.”
Efforts to unionize began several years ago as reporters struggled to understand what their primary objectives were. Having more specific mission statements was an issue reporters wanted management to address.
Accountability within the organization also mattered to reporters involved with forming a union.
By 2023, reporters were struggling with the issue of equal pay. Reporters at the time who were Black and Hmong were the lowest-paid members of the roster, despite having seniority. The entire news team held a meeting in which reporters disclosed their starting pay, tenure and current pay. That meeting forced management to give raises to certain reporters.
The Cap Times remains an organization in which every person on the upper tier of power is an older, white male.
This culture persisted even as certain women on staff performed editorial and supervisory roles for years without receiving financial compensation for their work or having the work they performed be accurately depicted in their job titles, until 2024, when the company elevated Lindsay Christians to Food and Culture Editor.
Some reporters also balked at the editorial stances the paper often took. Editorials from publisher Paul Fanlund, many of which criticized Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway for her housing policies, led to city staff and the Mayor’s office not wanting to engage with the paper, creating difficulty for the paper’s local government reporter.
Worse, Fanlund’s editorials at times directly contradicted the work of his own local government reporter.
Forming a union can help reporters have a voice in their missions, agency in the culture of the Cap Times, and amplify the work of a reporting team that has been heavily awarded and honored.
The Cap Times itself has a long and storied history of providing a pro-labor voice for the Madison community since its inception more than 100 years ago. The Cap Times News Guild urges newspaper management to honor the paper’s legacy of support for labor movements by voluntarily recognizing its own staff’s right to unionize.
“I have been a part of a unionized newsroom in the past and have seen the good they can do not only for the reporters they represent, but also for the community that relies on them for reliable quality journalism,” said Olivia Herken, the Cap Times state government and politics reporter, in a press release. “I believe this union will be a positive force to further the Cap Times’ mission and all the wonderful work already being done by our talented staff.”
The Cap Times News Guild is affiliated with The NewsGuild-CWA, the country’s largest union for journalists and other news workers.
Nicholas Garton reported for the Cap Times for five years.
