Introduction

Abstract

In March 2018, Labor published a special issue that explored the history of labor journalism, revealing both variations and continuities from the Gilded Age to the twenty-first century. “Just as historians have always leaned upon journalism for the proverbial first draft of history,” guest editors Max Fraser and Christopher Phelps wrote, “so too labor itself has always drawn sustenance, and always will, from those working the labor beat.”1In the four years since then, there has been a noticeable uptick in the scope and quality of labor reporting in the United States, amounting to something of a renaissance. Partly fueled by an impressive wave of unionization at digital newsrooms and legacy media institutions, what may be called the “new” labor journalism is led by a generation of reporters all too aware of their own working-class status.Having only ever known a media terrain of internships, freelancing, layoffs, and overall job insecurity, these journalists are increasingly organizing among themselves and engaging in collective bargaining with employers, making them more sensitive and attuned to the struggles of other workers across the economy.2The challenges faced by working journalists in the 2020s are not all that different from those faced by working academics. For both, stable careers are harder and harder to come by, the institutions that employ us are continuously willing sacrifice their core missions to serve the dictates of capital, and those of us who do the work are increasingly turning to unions and collective bargaining for protection.There is therefore much that the newer generation of journalists and academics can relate to when it comes to our experiences as workers. Labor reporters and labor historians should especially be interested in learning from one another about how we both do the rewarding but difficult task of telling other workers’ stories while simultaneously tackling our own struggles as workers.Labor invited four prominent and accomplished labor journalists from the growing world of digital media to write brief essays reflecting on their experiences as workers and to offer analysis of the past, present, and future of their craft.Outlining the history of the working-class and radical press, Michelle Chen raises important historical questions and argues that labor journalism is at its best when it allows workers to directly articulate their grievances and aspirations.Luis Feliz Leon discusses his struggles as an unpaid intern and freelancer trying to break into a career in journalism and laments the steady disappearance of experienced, working-class reporters in favor of young opinion writers fresh out of elite universities.Huffington Post labor reporter Dave Jamieson reflects on the sudden burst of unionization at newsrooms and what it may mean for the labor movement's broader prospects, contending that journalists have several strategic organizing advantages over workers in most other industries trying to form unions.Finally, Kim Kelly charts her journey from being a music reporter covering heavy metal to one of the nation's foremost labor journalists, explaining how her working-class upbringing has been crucial to navigating this unexpected yet satisfying career change.Through personal insights and keen analysis, these four essays reveal how some of those behind the “new” labor journalism see themselves and their own labor as part of a larger working-class movement.