(Another) AP byline strike?

As beanpole explained, this tactic is mostly an in-house thing. It probably has little to do with whether readers, newspaper clients of AP, care about the bylines.

MC's post about how only journalists -- in this case, that would be AP journalists and gild people -- care about bylines also is applicable.

 

I agree for the most part. Byline strikes at AP serve nominal value. The company listens (to a certain extent) when their very top writers (like a Linda Deutsch in LA) support Guild activities because it emboldens the rest of the bargaining unit and some member newspapers actually want to use bylines, especially for columns and major beats (White House, Supreme Court, etc.).

I chaired two AP bargaining committees for what was then the Wire Service Guild in the late '80s and early '90s. Support from "star" writers is relatively big for the union. The most important thing we did in 1990 was recruit then Supreme Court writer Dick Carelli, since retired but one of the AP's most respected writers during that era, into joining the bargaining committee. It's different for the company negotiators when they have to look their best employees in the eye across the table and explain why they're fucking with staffers' livelihoods.

That said, I'm not sure any of this will make much difference this time around. AP is already a shell of its former self and in a downward spiral.

(The world-wide strike could never happen because the Guild only covers domestic employees and the AP has hardly any international staff at this point.)

 

He's got to do something to earn his big paycheck.