The Press Democrat Guild

06/22/2025

We need our community’s support now more than ever. If you value , the best way you can support us is by staying engaged, continuing to read and sharing our message. Learn more here

  Less than two months after Darius Anderson and Sonoma Media Investments sold The Press Democrat and its sister publications to Media News Group/hedge fund Alden Global Capital, our new owner…

06/20/2025

Less than two months after Darius Anderson and Sonoma Media Investments sold The Press Democrat and its sister publications to Media News Group/hedge fund Alden Global Capital, our new owners have already started layoffs.

We are losing two Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers and an award-winning business reporter - all exceptional journalists who bring passion, talent and expertise to their work covering our community every day.

One of those photographers is also our Guild unit leader, who has fought tirelessly for years to protect our newsroom and the very rights and protections we now fear are under threat.

We have not been told why these cuts are necessary.

We love this community and are passionate about covering it thoroughly, but doing so becomes harder when our newsroom loses the dedicated professionals who have expertly covered our community for years.

We need the support of our community now more than ever. If you appreciate our work, don’t cancel your subscriptions, but consider sharing our message and calling for our newsroom to be preserved.

03/04/2025

Press Democrat Guild Calls on Darius Anderson/SMI and Hearst to Honor Our Contract & Union
We are being SOLD!
The Press Democrat Guild is demanding that owner Darius Anderson/SMI stand by their commitment to community journalism and SMI journalists, and guarantee that Hearst will uphold the terms of our current contract.
Our union has worked with SMI in good faith for years. In 2012, we sacrificed our pension, and agreed to reduce wages and vacation days so that SMI could purchase the newspaper. Recently, we agreed not to participate in a class-action lawsuit to financially shield the company.
We call on Darius Anderson/SMI and Hearst to take immediate action and honor the contract. The Press Democrat workers deserve better.
https://mediaworkers.org/press-democrat-guild-seeks-protections-in-imminent-sale-to-hearst/

10/12/2023

After more than 9 months of negotiations, The Press Democrat Guild finally has a new contract! Our members voted, with nearly 98% in support, to ratify a 3-year agreement that guarantees raises for every member each year.

We successfully unionized the Petaluma Argus-Courier, Sonoma Index-Tribune and North Bay Business Journal, who joined our union and will now enjoy better pay and better protections.

We successfully guarded against company proposals that would have had a significant financial impact on our members, and instead secured a total of 6.5% raises over 3 years, preserved our healthcare premium costs and ensured our employer would still contribute to our 401k.

We also defended our jurisdiction, ensuring that the journalism produced by our publications will continue to be performed by union workers.

These contract victories came with impressive solidarity among our members, who spoke up and acted collectively – speaking with the community, advocating on social media and demonstrating their union pride with our Guild t-shirts.

Securing this contract and the terms that we fought hard for will help provide stability and hope for the future of our newsrooms. It will help us continue to do this work and preserve local news.

We are grateful for all the support we have received throughout this process. Thank you to readers, members of the community and other news guilds and unions across the United States who cheered us on!

We would also like to thank Hunter Paniagua of Pacific Media Workers Guild, who guided us through every step of the bargaining process and spoke on our behalf at the bargaining table. We appreciate all of your hard work, wisdom and support!

We will enforce the contract we won and never stop fighting to make our newsrooms the best workplaces they can be. We will also continue to support our colleagues in newsrooms across the country as they fight for fair contracts. So keep following along for updates!

Pacific Media Workers Guild NewsGuild-CWA

10/10/2023

Today, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Press Democrat Guild is urging Sonoma Media Investments’ leadership to make amends for the Trecini Winery advertisement published in the Oct. 4 print edition of The Press Democrat. (We'd rather not link to it. See SFGate's recent coverage on the issue.)

Our union members vehemently oppose the tone and tenor of this ad, which is not only culturally insensitive and offensive, but misrepresents, trivializes and disregards what Indigenous Peoples’ Day is about.

Sonoma Media Investments’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement reads: "We pledge to promote equality and humane treatment of others, and to oppose prejudice, indifference, sexism, intolerance and hate. This we will do through our hiring, promotion and retention practices, through our advertising programs and customer service, and through our news coverage and community engagement."

These values are important to our union, not only as they apply to our mission and reporting, but also in how they shape the culture of our newsroom.

We call on our employer to recommit to our stated values by issuing an apology, retracting the advertisement, and reviewing the systems by which it was approved.

09/05/2023

Grace, the guild dog, is “kicking ass for the working class” on Labor Day. 🐶✊

09/05/2023

Happy Labor Day to all journalists (and workers in all industries) fighting for better wages and working conditions! ✊

08/10/2023

We're also on Twitter!

Representing journalists at The Press Democrat, Sonoma Index-Tribune, Petaluma Argus-Courier, North Bay Business Journal. Unit of Pacific Media Workers Guild.

08/10/2023

It takes a special kind of person to work as a journalist: strong and persevering, yet open-minded and empathetic. Today’s conscientious young journalists are leading the way to tomorrow’s more equitable, diverse and just society. Their idealism inspires us and illuminates our world.

Communications Workers of America Pacific Media Workers Guild NewsGuild-CWA More Perfect Union

08/10/2023

As journalists, we’re used to talking to people about issues that concern them and the community. We listen, we ask questions, we take notes, we shoot photos. We rarely talk about ourselves, our struggles or our dreams. Tonight we did. Thank you for listening.



Pacific Media Workers Guild Communications Workers of America NewsGuild-CWA Dripped Out Trade Unionists

08/10/2023

Being a journalist is a privilege. We do this work because we care deeply about our community, and we believe local journalism helps keep that community strong. But we still need to be fairly compensated for the work that we do. Because good journalism isn’t cheap…

…And neither is the area where we work and live. Here’s how you can support us: Subscribe to our papers, follow on social media and share our posts, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]. Here’s what’s at stake:

We've been bargaining for over seven months with Sonoma Media Investments, the company that owns the papers we work for, in an effort to increase our wages and improve our working conditions.

A majority of us are considered low-income earners according to state guidelines. Some of us are living paycheck to paycheck. Others pay more than 50% of our wages toward housing. There is no money left for emergencies.

Without livable wages, we cannot afford to live and work in the communities we serve. We believe that investing in newsroom staff is good for business and good for local journalism.

Pacific Media Workers Guild NewsGuild-CWA Communications Workers of America Dripped Out Trade Unionists

08/10/2023

The Press Democrat Guild is at Santa Rosa’s Wednesday Night Market, encouraging members of the public to support local journalists. We’re seeking better wages and working conditions. We believe that investing in newsroom staff is good for local journalism and good for the community.



Pacific Media Workers Guild Communications Workers of America NewsGuild-CWA Dripped Out Trade Unionists