Former DMNers believe a union could stop mass exodus of talent
More than 100 in two years.
That’s the number of journalists who have departed The Dallas Morning News since 2018. Some found better jobs in journalism. Others left dream careers for the security of better hours, flexibility and pay. And some retired or were laid off.
Some of their positions have been rehired while many were shuttered – part of a cost-cutting initiative by executives who have rewarded themselves with considerable raises in recent years.
All told, the mass exodus amounts to many hundreds of years of experience lost. That valuable institutional memory and knowledge cannot be easily replaced. The Dallas News Guild is fighting to improve working conditions at the 135-year-old Dallas newspaper so it can retain its talent, young and old, and in the process boost staff morale and improve the quality of its journalism.
Some veteran journalists who spent years at The News say they have watched with sadness and alarm as talented journalists continue to be lost.
“The staff has been reduced to a fraction of its former size, pay has been frozen or lowered and, all the while, the workload has vastly increased,” Dave Flick said. Flick retired five years ago after working for many years at Texas’ flagship newspaper.
But it doesn’t have to be that way, he added.
“A daily news report requires gathering and evaluating information, and then processing it into readable, accurate and fair prose in the space of a few hours. With no tolerance for error,” Flick said.
“This takes skill that comes from experience. A guild provides protection and livable wages that will allow the paper to retain employees with that experience.”
High turnover doesn’t just affect the newsroom staff, Flick added.
“Retaining veteran staffers means the general public gets smarter coverage on issues that affect their lives,” he said.
Doug Swanson worked as a reporter and editor for The News from 1982 to 2016. During that time, he traveled the world as a journalist, made great friends, and “supported my family,” he said.
“The newspaper was an exciting and rewarding place to work for many of those years, as The News established a national reputation for quality,” Swanson said.
One of the newspaper’s keys to success, according to Swanson, was that it “attracted talented and ambitious young staffers while retaining veteran reporters, editors, photographers and graphic artists.”
Those veterans not only produced exceptional journalism, they also helped develop and mentor younger colleagues, Swanson says.
“This balance of youth and experience was vital to the newspaper’s creative dynamic,” he said. “Thus, it was sad to see, as revenues dropped, the departures of so many of the DMN’s long-time writers, editors and photographers.”
Swanson, who is now an assistant professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, noted that his own separation was voluntary. But that was not the case with some others, he said.
“I watched many senior journalists laid off with no notice and with severance packages that did not match those at other major urban dailies,” he said.
Swanson said he’s hopeful that a newsroom guild will “mitigate this situation in the coming years.”
“Therefore, I strongly support the movement by DMN editorial staffers to seek union representation,” he said.
Karen Robinson Jacobs, another veteran journalist, also said she is excited to see a union at her former newspaper.
“The strength of The Dallas Morning News lies in the tireless commitment of the dedicated professionals who continue to chase the story despite shrinking paychecks and a shrinking newsroom,” she said. “The News needs an accountability partner that can weigh the needs of both the operations side and the workers' rights, an accountability partner with a real seat at the table.”
Robinson Jacobs said other companies have managed to treat their workers with “dignity and fairness” despite economic conditions.
“A union will ensure that the Dallas Morning News is such a company,” she said.
