tips for covering strikes and lockouts

Here are some tips for news professionals – and Guild members – who are covering events that take place in workplaces where a strike or lockout is underway:

• Reporters and videographers must remain neutral at all times. You can’t refuse to cover an event taking place in a struck workplace.

• Your coverage must nonetheless respect the people involved in the dispute. If possible, avoid crossing picket lines and set up interviews away from the site of the strike or lockout.

• If it’s absolutely necessary to cover an event from inside the picket line, talk to the picket captains before going in and respect their protocols.

• Limit your on-air comments. Strikers will not appreciate hearing a journalist say they are heading into a struck workplace. While the public has a right to be informed about what is going on, you can simply say you will gather information without saying that you will physically go to a struck workplace.

• If the event you are covering is in a struck workplace, it is entirely appropriate for you to mention that fact in your report in order to allow the listener or viewer to decide whether or not they want to participate.

If you have any concerns or questions, please talk to a member of your local Guild executive or call the national office at 416-591-5333 or 1-800-465-4149.