The journalists are unionizing again. This week, employees at the left-wing media network MSNBC announced their intention to form a union representing more than 300 workers at the company. It is the latest example of the predominantly white professional class demanding to be accepted into the so-called workers' rights movement, which has traditionally focused on jobs requiring actual labor.
In this case, however, the MSNBC journos deserve credit for seeking union protection from a media conglomerate with a miserable track record when it comes to keeping its employees safe from harm.
"All right then! Proud of my peeps," MSNBC host Joy Reid tweeted, perhaps unaware that unionization would likely entail a push for a safer work environment for employees traumatized by her bigoted blog posts. Rather than being fired for her hateful screeds, Reid was promoted. As recently as 2020, she was promoting harmful stereotypes about Muslims, an oppressed minority.
For too long, MSNBC employees have been forced to interact with some of the media industry's most prominent perverts, including Chris Matthews, the disgraced former Hardball host who resigned last year amid allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. Just last week, however, MSNBC employees who may have been victimized by Matthews were forced to watch as host Nicolle Wallace interviewed him about his new memoir. Perhaps a union could help alleviate this ruthless cycle of triggered trauma.
Union representation would have given MSNBC employees more power to pressure company executives to cut ties with Matt Lauer, Mark Halperin, and other serial sex pests. Perhaps they could have pressured network hosts to refrain from exposing them to a criminal grifter such as Michael Avenatti on a regular basis.
Think of the harm that might have been spared, for example, if the network's executives were beholden to their actual employees, rather than the interests of influential Hollywood producers and Democratic megadonors. We may never know whether or not union representation would have prevented network bigwigs from spiking Ronan Farrow's bombshell investigative report on Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes.
Three cheers for the MSNBC employees demanding a safer workplace, free of bigots, creeps, and grifters. It would seem the media conglomerate's days of recklessly harming its employees may soon be at an end.