Read it again slowly. Look at who signed the first letter. The people who
signed, are people whom I greatly respect and they are writing about the rights
of workers, in this case, journalists. The second letter is written by a
representative of the publisher. I don't know anything about her, but I do know
that she is using the fact that she is a woman and the fact that many women
have been mistreated by many men, to slander Robert Scheer. I know that Chris
Hedges signed the first letter, along with other journalists and Robert Scheer.
I know that Hedges is so concerned about the safety of women, that he is
opposed to the legalization of sex work. I know that Robert Scheer has been on
the correct side of every issue, starting with the Vietnam War and probably
before that. I listen to his podcast every week. He's 83 years old, has always
been a journalist, and is still teaching a class at the University of Southern
California. He does like to talk a lot on his podcast, often talking a bit too
much when he's supposed to be interviewing people. But it has to do with
wanting to express a lot of ideas. So I can imagine him wanting to have a lot
of control over Truthdig, but that's probably a good thing. I doubt that this
fight over control has anything to do with his mistreatment of women, but
that's partly because he seems like a really well meaning person and because of
the excellent journalism and ethical stances of the people who signed the
letter with him.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 9:25 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: two letters from Truthdig
I found it!
I quickly read the two letters, first siding with one and then with the other.
What do you know about it?
Carl Jarvis
On 3/17/20, miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The letter below, was listed in the Truthdig email of that date, but
had been taken off the website. I've been looking for it. Today, I saw
the response to it and I began searching again and found it in an
issue of Common Dreams. If I can find the very nasty response again,
I'll place it below this letter.
Published on
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
byCommon Dreams
Editorial Staff and Key Contributors at Progressive Media Outlet
Truthdig Announce Work Stoppage "Truthdig has long provided an
essential voice for the progressive movement.
Together, we're calling on it to live up to its own values."
by
TruthDig Staff
In recent months, as has been publicly reported, Truthdig Publisher
Zuade Kaufman and Editor in Chief Robert Scheer have evidently been
engaged in an ongoing dispute. That dispute is approaching its nadir.
(Cartoon: Mr. Fish) In recent months, as has been publicly reported,
Truthdig Publisher Zuade Kaufman and Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer
(pictured) have evidently been engaged in an ongoing dispute. That dispute is
approaching its nadir.
(Cartoon: Mr. Fish)
Note: Senior editors and contributors at Truthdig, including Executive
Editor Kasia Anderson, Managing Editor, Jacob Sugarman, Foreign Editor
Natasha Hakimi Zapata and Book Editor Eunice Wong, along with
columnists Chris Hedges, Lee Camp and Paul Street and the cartoonist
Dwayne Booth, aka Mr. Fish, as well as blogger Ilana Novick, announced
in a joint letter today they were beginning a work stoppage today to
protest what they describe as unfair labor conditions and the effort
by the publisher, Zuade Kaufman, to remove the site's founding
Editor-in-Chief and co-owner Robert Scheer.
The letter, posted briefly on the site before being taken down, follows:
This letter is to announce that the undersigned members of Truthdig's
editorial team: Executive Editor Kasia Anderson, Managing Editor Jacob
Sugarman, Foreign Editor Natasha Hakimi Zapata, Book Editor Eunice
Wong, and blogger Ilana Novick, along with columnists Chris Hedges,
Lee Camp, and Paul Street and cartoonist Mr. Fish will begin a work
stoppage, effective immediately.
In recent months, as has been publicly reported, Truthdig Publisher
Zuade Kaufman and Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer have evidently been
engaged in an ongoing dispute. That dispute is approaching its nadir
as we are concerned Ms. Kaufman is attempting to take control of
Truthdig, thus effectively removing Mr. Scheer from the website he
co-owns and co-founded. This is unacceptable to us.
Since the website's launch in 2005, Robert has helped guide Truthdig's
editorial voice, fearlessly exposing the corruption of Republican and
Democratic administrations alike-an exception that proves the rule in
progressive media. While liberals have largely turned their back on
Julian Assange in recent years, Robert has remained one of his greatest
champions.
And as the mainstream media has resorted to the most cynical form of
red-baiting against Sen. Bernie Sanders this election cycle, he has
pushed back against it at every turn.
Robert is the rare editor who urges readers to examine the legitimate
alienation and rage of those pushed aside by globalization and
de-industrialization, rather than allow the election of Donald Trump
to be blamed on Vladimir Putin and Russia. Under his guidance,
Truthdig has stood beside Occupy Wall Street, Wikileaks, the
indigenous people of Standing Rock, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and
countless other protest movements that have challenged entrenched
power. We believe that he is irreplaceable.
But this work stoppage is ultimately about more than just Robert. For
years, the Truthdig staff has worked under conditions that it feels
fall well short of the website's progressive values. Those include,
but are not limited to, employment conditions that very possibly flout
California's labor laws. To ameliorate this situation, we are asking
that management honor the following
requests:
*Robert retain his position as Truthdig's editor in chief
*The editorial team retain its independence from publishing
*Full-time staffers (anyone working more than 32-hour weeks) receive
no less than 10 paid vacation days per year, excluding national
holidays. Those working between 20 and 30 hours per week will receive
7 paid vacation days, while those working between 10 and 20 hours per
week will receive 5 paid vacation days, respectively
*Full-time staffers be compensated if they are ineligible for the
company's health insurance plan
*Full-time staffers receive four month's paid parental leave
*Copy editors be compensated for full shifts
*All staffers be paid double for federal holidays or enjoy a full day
off at normal rates
*All staffers receive annual performance reviews and scheduled pay
increases
*All staffers be issued new contracts to ensure compliance with labor
laws
This list remains a work in progress, but management's willingness to
negotiate with the editorial team would demonstrate that all are
acting in good faith, paving the way for future unionization. We
maintain that a progressive publication cannot, and more essentially
should not, exist without a union.
To reiterate, we are not striking because we want to harm Truthdig or
anyone at the publication. Quite the opposite: We are striking because
we care deeply about the website and are committed to its long-term
health. We hope to receive a response in a timely fashion and that
this work stoppage will be short-lived.
Sincerely,
Chris Hedges
Kasia Anderson
Jacob Sugarman
Natasha Hakimi
Zapata Eunice Wong
Ilana Novick
Mr. Fish
Paul Street
Lee Camp
Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.
Below is the response. I trust Robert Scheer and Chris Hedges and I
think that there are women who are using the mistreatment of other
women for their own advantage. So here's the publisher's letter.
Truthdig: Expert Reporting,
Open Letter from Truthdig's Publisher & CEO: Breaking My Silence
Truthdig I am proud of what Truthdig has accomplished. Truthdig has
received wide acclaim and many awards. We are a voice for progressive
politics, social justice, humanitarian issues, the environment,
women's rights and more. We created our Global Voices initiative to
encourage progressive female journalists around the world. We fight
violence against women and strive to empower them.
As you may know, a statement was posted March 11th by some Truthdig
staff and contributors. Contrary to the statement, the real underlying
issue is negotiations to end the business partnership between me,
Truthdig's Publisher and CEO, and Robert Scheer, its Editor-in-Chief.
Unfortunately, the staff and contributors have gotten caught in the
middle. While I sought to shield them and to respect confidentiality,
Bob internally and externally waged a campaign of misinformation.
Sadly, the situation seems to have devolved into Bob having an
attitude of "If-I-can't-have-Truthdig, no-one-will." Indeed, he even
pushed me to permanently shut down Truthdig. But I care deeply about
Truthdig's staff and contributors, loyal readers, donors, and other
supporters. I am committed to maintaining Truthdig's important mission
and work.
As a female executive and professional, I have had to endure a certain
amount of harassment and bullying. Fortunately, society now recognizes
that men no longer get to disrespect women in the workplace without recourse.
When multiple female staffers came to me and complained about
mistreatment by Bob, my moral compass required me to take action.
While I sought legal advice, Bob, through his personal lawyer, sent a
letter seeking to forbid Truthdig from conducting an investigation of
allegations regarding Bob's behavior.
Because of a variety of untenable actions by Bob and because he
previously indicated to me that he desired to step aside from Truthdig
to pursue other projects, I asked him to leave. But he refused to go
unless I personally paid him a large sum of money. When I refused, he
began to feed employees and the public misinformation about the
underlying issues and resulting separation negotiations.
I am a progressive and care deeply about workers' rights. As such, I
was surprised to read the allegations of labor and employment issues
raised in the statement, which were never previously brought up to me,
to our HR or, as far as I know, to Bob. I have always had an open-door
policy with staff and contributors.
While Truthdig is a small organization, we have always sought to be
generous with the benefits we provide our employees. Beyond complying
with labor and employment laws, we provide subsidized medical, dental,
and eye care benefits, up to 3 weeks paid vacation depending on
tenure, and a number of paid religious and national holidays as well
as employees' respective birthdays as a paid day off.
Our dream at Truthdig is for a democratic culture and a just society.
I'm sure you share this goal. We thank you for your support of
Truthdig as we pursue this vision and continue to dig for the truth.
Sincerely,
Zuade Kaufman
Publisher and CEO, Truthdig
