The state of the Long Beach Post: A letter from our CEO
Over the last two weeks, the Long Beach Post has been the target of relentless lies and sabotage. The Long Beach Post has been under constant pressure from former and current employees, who have used a list of email addresses stolen from the Post to falsely accuse me and the Post’s board of directors of union busting. This accusation is a fabrication, as the Post's management has already agreed to a union election on April 5 and has done nothing to impede the unionization process. The group of former employees have been attempting to cast the Post as the villain and themselves as the victims. This has led to a campaign of retaliation against the Post, which included employees attempting to lock management out of critical systems and misappropriating company property before the layoffs began on March 22. The conflict has already diminished the Post and Business Journal, which have proven to be vital community voices.
Published : a month ago by in Business
Over the last two weeks, the Long Beach Post has been the target of relentless lies and sabotage.
I’m writing to you about it now because it escalated Monday when a group of former and current employees used a list of email addresses stolen from the Post to once again falsely accuse me and the Post’s board of directors of union busting.
This is a pure fabrication. The Post’s management has already agreed to a union election on April 5 and has done nothing to impede the normal unionization process from happening swiftly.
The truth is, a group of former employees has engineered a situation intended to cast the Post as the villain and themselves as the victims, when, in reality, it’s the residents of Long Beach who are ultimately suffering the consequences of a diminished press having to spend more energy on its own infighting than accountability for local leaders.
What led to Monday’s breach began on Feb. 28 when I informed our employees at an all-staff meeting that our operating cash as a newly formed nonprofit was dangerously low and we would need to proceed with layoffs within a matter of weeks. Being transparent felt like the right thing to do, but in hindsight, it was naive.
Almost immediately, a group of employees quietly sought to delay the layoffs and begin the unionization process — rallying more support to their side by falsely telling their coworkers and subordinates that they had a list of everyone who was to be laid off.
This helped spark a campaign of retaliation against the Post that included employees attempting to lock management out of critical systems and misappropriating company property even before the layoffs proceeded on March 22.
This has all been couched as a form of protected labor activity justified by their desire to somehow save the Long Beach Post by unionizing, but it’s become clear that is not their true motivation.
Last week, facing the prospect of an extended strike that would significantly harm our ability to continue to do quality journalism in Long Beach, I and the board of directors came to the conclusion that it did not serve the community’s best interest to continue this conflict.
On Friday, we offered to hand the Long Beach Post and Business Journal over to the employees. I and the board would resign and they would be free to pursue whatever they believed was in the best interest of the nonprofit.
Instead of accepting our offer, the group of current and former employees chose to go on the attack — using a list of email addresses misappropriated from the Long Beach Post to publish a newsletter that included demonstrable falsehoods disguised as a journalistic endeavor titled “Long Beach Watchdog.”
It has been a painful two weeks — first being forced to lay off a group of colleagues I had long respected as journalists and then learning they did not hold dear the values of truth, accuracy and fairness I thought they did.
I do not know yet what will happen to the Long Beach Post — whether it will be disbanded, handed over to a group of journalists who have already compromised their ethics or soldier on even as a group of former employees seem intent on destroying it.
What I do know brings me great sadness: that this conflict has already diminished the Post and Business Journal, publications that over the years have proven to be vital community voices that help residents understand the moment they’re living in and hold powerful local institutions accountable.
More than ever, it is up to you and other members of our community to decide whether you support independent, ethical, unbiased journalism. As long as I remain at the helm, that will be the mission of the Long Beach Post and Business Journal.
Topics: Business Leaders