For readers of The Baltimore Sun, the changes made to the paper since its purchase eight months ago by Sinclair Broadcast Group Executive Chairman David Smith have been startling.

Brief, thinly reported pieces on culture war topics and national politics have proliferated on the pages of the print edition and on the website.

Bylined items say “Fox45 News,” Sinclair’s TV station in the city, and “The Sinclair National Desk,” which churns out copy for the national broadcast conglomerate from offices in Arlington, Virginia.

Others just say “Sinclair.”

And the headlines have a distinct editorial bent:

Trump blasts Paris Olympics opening ceremony. “It was a disgrace.”

Stacey Abrams rips Americans who oppose DEI.

Trump says prisoner swap is “win for Putin,” predicts “tremendous kidnappings on horizon.”

For the reporters at the 187-year-old paper, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020, the increasing use of questionable Sinclair and other content is demoralizing and disturbing.

So are the rumors now circulating that the company is considering ending its relationship with the Associated Press.

“Our union members are watching distressing changes play out on the pages of our own newspaper, and we’re pushing back,” Guild Unit Chair Christine Condon said today at a lunchtime rally today outside the Sun’s downtown office on St. Paul Place.

“From day one, during David Smith’s very first meeting with us, he insulted our journalism, stating we should look to his television station for guidance,” Condon continued.

Upholding Journalistic Standards

As the union negotiates for a new contract – seeking job protections and members’ first across-the-board raise in over a decade – they are pushing as well to protect professional standards and the jobs of Guild-covered journalists.

“Who are we? The Baltimore Sun! Who are we? Not Sinclair!” a group of about 50 Guild members and supporters chanted, carrying signs that said “Don’t Sinclair our Sun” and “Integrity matters!”

“We need a real commitment to uphold the journalistic standards that Sun journalists have worn as a badge of honor through all my time at the paper. Even when we were being downsized by corporations and abandoned by advertisers,” said columnist Dan Rodricks, who has worked at the newspaper for 48 years.

Guild leaders said the two sides are far apart in negotiations, with management making “egregious proposals,” including slashing seniority protections during a layoff and whittling down the requirement of just and sufficient cause for dismissal.

A letter from the Guild demands an end to newly imposed story quotas “that force us to prioritize quantity over quality” and an end to the publishing of content from “questionable wire services.” (An example cited was this piece from The Center Square, run by a conservative media group.)

The letter also calls on the management to only publish journalism that meets Sun standards “for fact-checking, word use and sourcing.”

“We believe terms contained in the contract held by prior ownership are woefully out-of-date”  – Trif Alatzas, Baltimore Sun publisher.

Responding to a query by The Brew, publisher and editor-in-chief Trif Alatzas released a statement acknowledging that negotiations are taking place, but offering few details.

“We believe the Guild agrees with us that terms contained in the contract held by prior ownership are woefully out-of-date, particularly given the seismic changes in today’s news industry,” Alatzas said.

“The guild has been regularly meeting with us as we both continue to bargain in good faith,” he continued.

“We owe it to our employees to have those discussions at the negotiating table where both sides can work collaboratively to reach an agreement. We are not interested in negotiating in public.”

“Ideologically motivated”

In June, the Baltimore Sun Guild demanded that the company stop publishing articles, videos, photos and social media content from Fox45 and other Sinclair newsrooms.

Since then, Sinclair content has mushroomed, along with unscientific reader polls and other new features.

The union’s letter included links to the kinds of stories they say are thinly reported and one-sided, undermining the news organization’s credibility including “Educators call for post-pandemic reset, overhaul of current system” and “Lawsuit targets Planned Parenthood, medical providers,” produced by the Sinclair National Desk.

The letter also noted the company’s “worrying history of ideologically motivated programming,” pointing to disclosures in 2018 that the national broadcasting chain made dozens of local news anchors recite the same script.

Smith famously told Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election, that the candidate could have full access to Sinclair reporters, adding “We are here to deliver your message, period.”

Guild leaders stressed that members are still reporting hard, fair, nuanced stories on local politics, environment, the courts and more.

“The Sun’s coverage of the Key Bridge disaster this year was stellar, and the reporting of its aftermath continues to be,” Rodricks said to cheers from the crowd.

He and Condon urged readers to support the journalists and write letters to the editor on their behalf.

A Meeting with Smith

Rally participants said they were concerned about changes they fear will not only cripple the union but try to bend journalists’ local coverage to align with Smith’s priorities.

“I am really worried about the politics of that new owner,” said Willa Bickham, longtime Baltimore social justice advocate, who walked the rally line with her husband, Brendan Walsh. “We need local coverage – good local coverage.”

Another participant brought up the paper’s new City Council Report Card feature, rating the 14 members of the City Council. He speculated that the peg for this effort must be the charter change legislation before voters in November – bankrolled by Smith – to halve the number of council members. (A non-union editor has been writing those pieces.)

Alarm bells went off last week after Lia Russell, who covers Baltimore County politics, went with an editor to Sinclair’s corporate offices in Cockeysville to discuss coverage of County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. with the editors there.

According to a source with knowledge of the matter, Russell was invited to the meeting by Fred Homan, the former county administrator at the center of the controversy over a secret payment made to retired firefighter Philip Tirabassi.

David Smith was in the room and joined in discussions about coverage. Also present in addition to Homan were Scott Livingston, senior director of news for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Julian Baron, chief of staff to the senior vice president of news at Sinclair.

Russell has not responded to a request from The Brew to comment. Russell and their colleagues were covering the high-profile story before the meeting and have continued to do so.

“The members of the Baltimore Sun Guild are continuing to do great work”  – Christine Condon Baltimore Sun Guild.

Asked about the appropriateness of a corporate owner becoming actively involved in the reporting process, Alatzas did not respond.

Guild Unit Chair Condon praised her members’ journalism done under difficult conditions.

“The members of the Baltimore Sun Guild are continuing to do great work, undeterred by changes under new ownership.”

Asked how the Guild hopes to get such an assertive media magnate to accede to its demands, she had an upbeat response.

“He bought a union paper!”