South Bend NewsGuild

06/11/2024

Folks, please participate in this 5-minute survey to help a very important local research project on local news. And share with others in the South Bend area who have a keen interest in news. You'll have a chance to win one of four $25 Martin's Super Market gift cards.

We invite you to participate in our South Bend Local News Readership Survey. Your input is invaluable in helping us understand how residents consume local news, their preferences, and how local news can improve to serve our community better. This survey covers various aspects including demographic i...

03/07/2024

And here's a story about our long, hard-fought, first contract. Four years after we voted to unionize.

The contract raises base salaries for starting reporters and at two other experience levels. It includes a raise in the second year.

03/06/2024

Good news: Four years after voting to organize, tonight the South Bend News Guild members voted to ratify a contract with Gannett for the hourly news staff at the South Bend Tribune.

12/20/2023

At last, here's the full video of our Nov. 1 "Summit to Save Local News at the South Bend Tribune." We hope you enjoy the many reality checks, suggestions and enlightening comments. More than 100 people came. It got lots of positive feedback. Now, please share it -- in the name of more sustainable journalism and a better informed community.
Below is a quick outline of the video in sequential order, with time stamps.

Introductions
--0:0: Joseph Dits: Tribune reporter/South Bend NewsGuild member
--1:28: Moderator Elizabeth Bennion: political science professor/director of Community Engagement and the American Democracy Project at IU South Bend, and director of Voter Services & Education for the local League of Women Voters.

National perspective
--4:50: Andy Grimm: Chicago Sun-Times reporter and president of the Chicago News Guild

Comments from community leaders
--11:55: Jeff Rea: President and CEO, South Bend Regional Chamber
--15:30: Rose Meissner: President, Community Foundation of St. Joseph County
--18:05: Juan Constantino: Executive Director, La Casa de Amistad
--20:36: Aaron Nichols: Executive Director, South Bend Civic Theatre

Statistics and testimonies from current Tribune journalists
--23:50: Gayle Bell, Greg Swiercz, Ed Semmler, Austin Hough and Joseph Dits

Potential solutions
--39:25: Joseph Dits: Tribune reporter/South Bend NewsGuild member

How some newspapers have become nonprofits
--41:25: Caroline Porter, Director of Impact and Strategic Partnerships, National Trust for Local News

Q&A, comments from the audience
--48:06: Moderated by Elizabeth Bennion

Call to Action
--1:24:40: Joseph Dits

FIN

The South Bend News Guild hosted more than 100 people at the South Bend Kroc Center on Nov. 1, 2023 to share their concerns about the state of local news her...

12/14/2023

TWO JOB OPENINGS AT THE TRIBUNE: Please share and boost your community coverage! This from the latest dispatch that we emailed as a post-Summit update:
If you know of any good print journalists who are in the market, PLEASE send them our way. We still have two full-time reporter positions to fill at the South Bend Tribune – one to cover education and one to cover public safety. Our editors interviewed candidates and narrowed it down to two great prospects for the education beat. One had even worked for Gannett and had an education degree. But, alas, they found better offers.
Yes, there are other applicants, but we need more. These are jobs that the company has approved. And, for those out-of-towners, the South Bend area is a great place to live, right? So let’s fill The Tribune’s local reporting ranks. It will end up benefiting you!
Here is the link to the education reporter job:
https://us232.dayforcehcm.com/CandidatePortal/en-US/gannett/Posting/View/64381
And here is the link to the public safety reporter job:
https://us232.dayforcehcm.com/CandidatePortal/en-US/gannett/Posting/View/64531

Check out this fantastic opportunity with Gannett | USA TODAY NETWORK!

12/05/2023

Another reason this is a historic day: A free, nonprofit online news service in Indianapolis launched today. With major financial support and a vision, it has been building a 25-person newsroom. It is making this content available to the IndyStar with the intent of boosting the local, civic-engaging journalism that central Indiana needs. In addition to regular stories, an interesting feature of this site is the "documenters" -- people from the community who are trained, paid $20 an hour and overseen by staff as they attend public meetings and fill in basic info, per a structured format. This will be one to watch.

Mirror Indy: Local news that reflects all of Indianapolis

12/05/2023

Historic day. Sinterklaas found the vacant ol' South Bend Tribune building on Colfax someone to save it: Notre Dame. Know that many Tribune folks who'd worked in that building are quite relieved.

The century-old property at 225 W. Colfax Ave. has sat vacant since 2019, when the South Bend Tribune moved its operations.

11/11/2023

Just saw this on tonight’s PBS NewsHour. Watch it! We were talking about these sorts of things at our summit.

11/02/2023

Thanks so much to all who attended our Summit to Save Local News at the South Bend Tribune last night -- about 100 people or more!! We heard nothing but good about the discussions. And it was clear that so many of you support more local news resources. This is a great start. Now we want to keep moving. We hope to organize a follow-up workshop in coming weeks to define what we, the public, would like to see. It will take more than just our tiny group of NewsGuild folks to carry that forward. We will email updates. So if you want to stay in the loop, even if you weren't there, go to the link below (or use the QR code) to a Google form to add your contact info and comments. Special thanks to wisdom we heard from Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, Indiana, South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce, La Casa de Amistad and South Bend Civic Theatre. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TR-mL2qNl6SABHmo4H4eAbEUxajEOs8kUDlYvM6r788/viewform?edit_requested=true&fbclid=IwAR2-PQbjRWLdZPf3o2i1G3r1j_mkj71SpZ2w-aZQP48aTco4G37QJwyl2yA

11/01/2023

The first story on tonight's summit, thanks to 88.1 WVPE Public Radio. Bit of a preview. See ya at 6 pm tonight at the South Bend Kroc Center.

Amid shrinking local news staffs, a group of South Bend journalists is turning to the public to keep local reporting strong in the future.