Newspaper Guild Accuses Newsweek Owner of Unfair Labor Practices

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Maybe IBT Media, the upstart digital publisher that produces The International Business Times and recently snatched up Newsweek for a song (see "TUOL" post 8/5/13), should take a Dale Carnegie course in how to win friends and influence people.

The ink hasn't dried on the Newsweek acquisition and  Ad Week already is reporting that The Newspaper Guild last week filed an unfair labor practices charge against the new owner. IBT purportedly offered four Newsweek staffers continued employment, but indicated that company policy prohibited their discussing salary with colleagues or criticizing IBT.  The Guild condemned IBT for "illegally muzzling" its workers and alleged the company had violated U.S. labor law.

That determination will be made by the National Labor Relations Board. If the NLRB finds merit in the accusation, it will file a complaint against IBT. According to the Ad Week story, Newsweek only has a staff of 20, down from 150 just three years ago, so there's barely anyone around in the lunch room to whom one could complain about low pay or the boss.

IBT Media Acquires Newsweek; Publication to Remain Digital-Only

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Newsweek, an 80-year-old publication that once boasted readership of three million, has become the Christmas fruitcake of publications--a hard-to-swallow confection no one wants that gets recycled from one unlucky recipient to another.

IBT Media, an eight-year-old digital-only company that publishes the International Business Times, has acquired Newsweek from IAC/Interactive for an undisclosed sum, according to press accounts. For readers keeping score, The Washington Post. Co. sold Newsweek to the late audio magnate Sidney Harman for $1 in 2010. Harman, in turn, partnered with IAC's Barry Diller to combine Newsweek with The Daily Beast in 2012, and a digital-only version of the news magazine has very quietly been produced since January 2013 (see "TUOL" post 5/29/13).

The International Business Times globally publishes 10 editions in several languages and claims to reach 7 million readers in the U.S. and 13 million people worldwide monthly. The Daily Beast will continue to produce Newsweek during a 60-day transition period.

In what English majors will recognize both as foreshadowing and irony, IBT, a company on the upswing, during a 2011 expansion moved into New York City offices previously occupied by Newsweek.