A newsroom throws down the gauntlet

We’ve been ruminating all weekend on the fact that the Arizona Daily Star newsroom is trying to unionize.

From where we’re standing, the 19 (out of 20) reporters, photographers and copy editors deserve a big round of applause for finally getting fed up with the direction of their newspaper and deciding to do something about it.

Their effort is in the same vein as what we’re trying to do here at the Agenda: They’re both journalist-led efforts to wrest control of local news from hedge funds, corporations and billionaires.

Now that the Star staffers have thrown down the gauntlet, we’re asking ourselves a question that might also be on the minds of Tucsonans who care about local journalism:

How can we help?

First, here’s how the Arizona Daily Star News Guild described the situation inside the Star:

They pointed out that the Star has just 20 reporters and photographers covering a metro area of more than 1 million people.

As for their demands, they want a living wage and affordable health insurance. They also want an “end to indiscriminate layoffs,” along with “clear evidence of local financial distress to justify any proposed staff reduction.” (Full disclosure: Curt was hit by those layoffs in 2023.)

They also demanded protections for news reporting itself, like travel budgets and equipment, as well as “assurances that Star journalists won’t be forced to use A.I. and will have a say in our newsroom A.I. policy.”

The reporters may have a long road ahead of them.

Last Thursday, they asked the USA Today Co. — which owns the Arizona Republic and recently bought the Star from billionaire David Hoffmann’s Lee Enterprises — to voluntarily recognize the guild.

If executives balk, then both sides might be in for years of negotiations and maybe even a labor strike.

When the Republic newsroom unionized in 2019, for example, they didn’t exactly get a warm welcome from the USA Today Co. (formerly known as Gannett). It was a four-year slog, but they eventually struck an agreement with corporate HQ.

The Star guild members will probably come up with ways the public can help if talks turn sour. We’ll be sure to let you know how to chip in if it comes to that.

In the meantime, we’re running through ideas of what we can do.

Ultimately, what we want is for the executives to look across the bargaining table and see other journalists and the public standing right behind the Star guild members, ready to support them any way we can.

Of course, our first thought after hearing about the guild was, “Could we hire all of them?”

They’re talented, hard-working people. And, frankly, we miss working with them (Curt and Joe both worked at the Star with many of the guild members).

However, the math is daunting. We’d need about 20,000 more paid subscribers, which is way beyond anything we could reasonably expect.

Still, if we got a thousand new paid subscribers over the next few weeks, we could hire one of the reporters. Another thousand subscribers, another reporter hired. And so on.

But that still seems like an overly ambitious goal.

A more reasonable idea might be a freelancer fund for the guild members in case they go on strike.

We’re already kind of doing that with reporters fleeing the Arizona Capitol Times, which has its own sordid tale.

The short version is a pair of venture capitalists bought the Capitol Times and now they’re turning the paper into a node in an AI-powered network of statehouse newsrooms. That AI-news network is backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, who is also the founder of Palantir, the data and surveillance company the USA Today Co. hired to mine newspaper readers’ data (which now includes Star readers).

Since Thiel announced his investment in the Capitol Times, we’ve been paying two now-former reporters for freelance work. Another one just reached out looking for work last week.

They’re great reporters, so it’s a good deal for us.

We also enjoy giving reporters a safe landing spot when corporate news inevitably ruins everything they love about journalism.

But the truth is, we barely scrape by as it is.

However, with your help, we could probably scrounge up enough cash to keep a few Star reporters busy during a strike.

One thing we like about this idea is it might spare striking journalists from having to reach out for charity. They’d keep earning paychecks while executives try to starve them out.

As a cherry on top, it’d be fun to see them get to write more freely, like we do at the Agenda.

If they don’t end up going on strike, we could keep that money in the “strike fund” for years to come, so the guild members have leverage whenever they need it.

Another idea that occurred to us is we can set up an email campaign so you can speak directly to executives.

When the USA Today Co. bought out a slew of Republic reporters last year, it got really ugly.

One longtime employee was laid off while he was in a hospital bed.

Our colleagues at the Arizona Agenda organized a campaign that led to more than 600 emails hitting the CEO’s inbox. Soon after, the executives decided to keep the hospitalized employee on medical leave for several more months.

It’s an example of small actions having a big impact.

We like to think that those small, impactful actions might also include us hectoring the Star’s former owner, Hoffmann.

Hoffmann clearly wants to be seen as a savior of local news, and we poked holes in that facade every chance we got. We’ll never know if our rhetorical jabs made him pick the Star as one of the papers he’s selling, but it’s entirely possible we hurt his fragile ego and he bailed.

If that were the case, then all it took to change Tucson’s news ecosystem was a few well-timed columns, a sense of humor and a team of journalists who don’t give a hoot about what powerful people think.

Now, you could take small, but powerful steps if you’re so inclined.

But before we start making moves, we want to hear from you.

Which option makes the most sense to you?

Violent threats everywhere in 2026: The New York Times’ recent feature on Democratic state Rep. Alma Hernandez highlights the threats she has faced over the years, but locals accuse Hernandez and her supporters of crossing the line between discourse and threatening behavior, writes Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller. Tucsonan Scott Blades said Hernandez’s post on Facebook back in July — accusing him of vandalizing her signs — led to threats against him from her supporters. Blades said he was simply taking down an “Evil Torta” sign.

Martin out at treasurer’s office: Pima County Deputy Treasurer Jake Martin was asked to resign last week, reports the Tucson Sentinel’s Mia Kortright. Newly appointed Treasurer Jorge Soto asked Martin to resign, but Soto didn’t explain his reasoning. Both men vied for the appointment just a few months ago following the resignation of then-Treasurer Brian Johnson after allegations of sexual misconduct with one of his staffers. Johnson appointed Martin to the position shortly after winning the 2024 election.

He’s running: Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy is now on record confirming he’ll seek another four-year term in 2028. The longest-serving member on the board and lone Republican told radio host Bill Buckmaster (with Joe co-hosting) that he plans to run for a fourth term.

Border theater never ends: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin spent time in Palominas last week to watch crews build a new section of the border wall, reports KGUN’s Pat Parris. Mullin claimed the Trump administration has “arrested 2,268 terrorists,” but not necessarily at the border. Federal officials have tried to tap into post-9/11 fears at the border for several decades, and those claims usually end up being flimsy at best. Over in Lochiel, following the removal of a protester in a cottonwood tree and contractors destroying those trees, a group of protesters vowed to continue the fight, reports Arizona Public Media’s Angela Gervasi. The Sonoran Desert Press Office stated “we will find another tree” in Lochiel to continue the protest of the construction of a border wall in the San Rafael Valley.

Time for police to get involved: A University of Arizona student told police she was sexually assaulted at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house, the Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar and Griffin Salkowski report. The student’s throat was bruised, which police said could be a sign of strangulation. Police executed a search warrant for camera footage from the fraternity house, but no arrests have been made. Sigma Phi Epsilon was one of the fraternities put on probation by school officials this summer amid allegations of hazing.

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Billionaire Elon Musk has waded into Southern Arizona’s swing congressional race with ads from the @America account — which of course he is accused of stealing.

We’re not sure what’s funnier — photoshopping JoAnna Mendoza into an image with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, or the fact that Musk is essentially paying himself to run the ads.

While we imagine this ad tested well with Republicans, we’re not sure the Tucson Twitterverse saw it the same way.

We kind of suspect it gives off don’t-threaten-me-with-a-good-time vibes for liberals living in the hotly contested congressional district.