On Monday afternoon (the 28th of October, 2024), members of the Sun Guild – the union of staff in the Baltimore Sun – announced to the public the news of the complete dissolution of the Features department of the newspaper. According to the letter published by the Sun Guild, this would mark the first time since 1888 that there would be no reporter dedicated to covering the city’s cultural life. This news came in as Guild members and the management of the Baltimore Sun are currently in negotiation rounds for a new labor contract.
The dissolution of the features department is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding the takeover of The Baltimore Sun by David Smith–son of Julian Sinclair Smith, founder of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group–and conservative radio host Armstrong Williams earlier this year.
Noted within the letter, the Guild “is devastated for the chefs, artists, musicians and business owners who are no longer considered worthy of coverage by their hometown newspaper — and for readers, who will lose information they can use to decide how to spend their money and time.” This dissolution came within the context that within the past two months, eight union reporters – or more than a quarter of the news reporting staff of the Sun – and three union-represented advertising staff had been either fired and/or laid off. One of the most prominent cases was the firing of reporter Maddi O’Neill in September, in which the Guild has officially filed a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board as of October 23rd, 2024.
Needless to say, this development created a strong reaction within the Baltimore culture community: attached alongside the Guild’s letter, founder of the American Visionary Art Museum Rebecca Hoffberger noted that without the Baltimore Sun’s “lavish, in-depth arts and architecture coverage for [her] idea back in 1991, […] there may well never be an AVAM.”
Jeannie L. Howe, executive director of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance said it was “unconscionable and bad business” for the Baltimore Sun to eliminate coverage of arts and culture. “According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis the culture sector contributes $11.7 billion to Maryland’s economy. Around the country, robust journalism which reflects the community continues to decline. Let’s not let this erosion in vital coverage happen here,” she noted in her statement.
In their latest statements, the Baltimore Sun Guild has also launched a byline strike between November 3rd and 10th of 2024, including Election Day coverage on the 5th, citing sliding journalistic standards and union-busting proposals raised by management at the bargaining table. “We are calling on readers to stand with us to demand better working conditions and newspaper ethics standards that should be the norm,” the statement noted.
The Sun Guild has asked all readers to stand in solidarity with the union – including their stance that “if the Baltimore Sun isn’t covering culture, it isn’t covering Baltimore,” by sending a pre-written letter to Smith and Williams, which can be accessed here.
This is a developing story. The Baltimore Sun Guild can be reached for additional information either through their profile @baltsunguild on X (formerly Twitter), or through their email at baltsunguild@gmail.com.
By Jamie Nguyen, ‘25
