ProPublica crossed the picket line 

This piece is part of “Reclaiming Democracy,” a project of The Objective taking a critical look at how democracy and journalism co-exist in the U.S.

Late last month, ProPublica announced it was pursuing a formal partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to pursue reporting into the Food and Drug Administration’s recall of Philips Respironics CPAP machines. 

This would be a rather standard announcement for ProPublica, which publishes award-winning stories with newsrooms across the U.S., apart from one thing: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staff have been on strike for over a year. 

The outlets had previously collaborated on a blockbuster story exploring how the company allegedly shelved complaints about a defective part on the machines. But the decision to pursue a partnership with a newsroom actively seeking to break a worker strike angered reporters at both newsrooms, journalists at both outlets told The Objective. After weeks of private deliberations, the unions representing the newsrooms went public with their frustrations on Monday in a joint statement published by the recently-unionized ProPublica Guild, The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (which represents striking Post-Gazette workers), and the NewsGuild of New York.

“Unionized journalists at ProPublica are demanding that the nonprofit’s management halts future collaboration with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on its investigative series about the Phillips respirator recall until the strike is over,” the statement read. 

“Continuing this partnership not only runs counter to our organization’s mission; it threatens the reputation we have worked hard to build over more than a decade,” representatives for ProPublica’s unionized staff wrote in a letter to management, according to the statement. “As investigative journalists committed to ProPublica’s mission, we believe that the subject of this project is incredibly important and acknowledge that a lot of good work by our members has gone into this. We would like to find a way for this excellent work to continue and the harm to CPAP users to be exposed without directly aiding the strike-breaking tactics of the Post-Gazette’s owners.”

Guild members suggested the newsroom publish any stories produced in the series exclusively on ProPublica’s own site or collaborate with Union Progress, the award-winning strike publication run by striking Post-Gazette workers.

In a statement shared with The Objective before the unions’ joint release was issued, a ProPublica spokesperson claimed that the collaboration “was initiated more than a year ago, before the strike began, and did not involve any members of the Post-Gazette Guild.”

“[W]e plan to continue the joint investigation given the important public service it provides to those impacted by these machines,” the spokesperson added. When asked for the company’s response to the joint statement and ProPublica Guild’s letter, the spokesperson declined to comment. 

In Monday’s statement, individual workers from both newsrooms shared testimonials about the importance for this kind of trans-newsroom solidarity. 

“Having a meaningful voice in our workplace is one of the main reasons we organized our union at ProPublica,” said Agnel Philip, a data reporter for ProPublica and the guild’s unit chair. “As we begin working on our first contract, we’ll look for ways to prevent this from happening in the future.”

“Unfortunately, we’ve come to expect this kind of union-busting activity from the Block family, which owns the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,” added Zack Tanner, a striking interactive news designer at the Post-Gazette and Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh President. “But the hypocrisy from ProPublica management in working with a scab-staffed publication is stunning and unacceptable.” 

The statement specifically called out Post-Gazette Executive Editor Stan Wischnowski, who’s emerged as a top target for striking workers. In the year since the strike began, the Post-Gazette, under Wischnowski’s leadership, was found to have violated federal labor laws, and earlier this summer, the newspaper filed criminal charges against a striking journalist for placing a sign in his yard that read “Solidarity with Post-Gazette workers on strike.” That reporter, Ed Blazina, was later found not guilty of criminal trespass by a district court judge. 

Representatives for Post-Gazette did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the unions’ statement or criticisms of Wischnowski.

This piece was edited by Gabe Schneider. Copy edits by James Salanga.