ProPublica Workers Announce Formation of a Union

Media Contact: Addy Baird, addy@nyguild.org, 801-368-5867

Fifteen years after ProPublica published its first investigation, employees of the award-winning, nonprofit investigative newsroom announced today that they were forming a union, the ProPublica Guild. The announcement comes as a slew of newsrooms have organized and, increasingly, won major material gains for members.

The ProPublica Guild announced their wall-to-wall unit with 90% support across the business and editorial sides of the newsroom. On Wednesday, members requested swift recognition of the ProPublica Guild from ProPublica President Robin Sparkman, Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg and members of the masthead. The ProPublica Guild will be represented by The New York NewsGuild, CWA Local 31003.

In a mission statement distributed to all ProPublica staff and presented to management, employees said that forming a union is essential to preserving ProPublica’s values and making it a fairer, more secure workplace regardless of turbulence within the industry.

“We, the employees of ProPublica, have built our newsroom to be a leader in investigative, data, research, audience, visual and engagement reporting and, thanks to the generosity of our donors, shown that a nonprofit business model can be successful,” employees wrote in their union mission statement. “We are proud of our work’s pursuit of justice and transparency and seek to hold our own newsroom to the same standards.”

“ProPublica has continued to grow and change over the years,” said reporter Paul Kiel, who joined the organization in May 2008 before the site launched. “We’ve gone from a few dozen employees in one newsroom to over 180 spread across the country. ProPublica has navigated this growth well, and we, the staff, view a union as a natural step in that growth and an essential way to continue that success.”

Vianna Davila, a reporter on the ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit, said that working at ProPublica was a longtime dream of hers: “Now that I’m lucky enough to be here, I believe the ProPublica Guild will help us preserve our newsroom mission and continue to ensure this is a place where all ProPublica workers, whatever their specialty, can grow and thrive.”

“We’re excited to be joining many of our industry peers with a union,” said reporter Ava Kofman, who joined the organization in 2019.

“I am a very happy ProPublica employee,” said Jessica Lussenhop, a reporter for the Midwest team. “I believe our union will help us maintain the same integrity and moral authority we’ve always strived for.”

“Unionizing ensures that ProPublica employees play an active role in making the newsroom’s strategic vision a reality,” said Sophia Kovatch, an audience editor specializing in SEO. “As we continue to grow, it’s critical that current and future employees are fully represented in the next stage of our organization.”

“For the past 15 years, ProPublica journalists have helped break some of the most important stories of our time and built ProPublica into an investigative powerhouse. Now, as ProPublica enters its next stage of growth, it is essential for all the workers at ProPublica to have baseline protections and standards they can rely on. I’m thrilled to welcome the people behind ProPublica’s success into The NewsGuild of New York. We support their demands for a seat at the table to fight for the workplace they deserve,” said Susan DeCarava, President of The NewsGuild of New York.

ProPublica’s mission is to “expose abuses of power and betrayals of public trust by government, business, and other institutions, using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlight of wrongdoing.” ProPublica journalists’ reporting has generated real-world impact, including changes to laws, reversals of harmful policies and accountability for powerful people and institutions. This work has earned six Pulitzer Prizes and numerous other awards for ProPublica. The ProPublica Guild intends to uphold these same values in the workplace.

ProPublica was founded in 2007-2008 and has since become an essential voice in American journalism with more than 180 employees across four regional newsrooms and its New York City office.