Union membership in the United States has been in steady decline for years, largely reflecting the decline in manufacturing and other trade jobs. However, while news organizations continue their decades-long struggle to survive, union organizing efforts among their employees have been on the rise.

Despite so many tumultuous years and scrutiny, the great thing about news media is that it’s still relatively predictable, especially regarding sales planning and forecasting. Here are are a few suggestions for kickstarting your year.

As crazy as it seems, we’re only a couple of months away from entering the third year of the coronavirus pandemic, and newsrooms across the country remain in flux amid the threat of variants and breakthrough cases. And hybrid models involving a mix of remote and office work appears to be the new reality for today's news publishers. A recent survey states only 9% of news organizations plan to force all their employees to return to the office as they did pre-pandemic.

Will Sutton is a columnist and editorial writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune & The Advocate, a Harvard University Nieman Fellow and a member of the NABJ, AEJMC, ONA and SPJ. In 2020 Mr. Sutton penned this OpEd for E&P.

Recently Twitter updated its privacy policy and rules of conduct surrounding “private media.” Critics say that the language used is so vague that it’s impossible to see how policing it could be anything but subjective. And forewarned that it is vulnerable to abuse.

It’s been a tough year for media and journalism — from a rise in layoffs and increasing scrutiny around misinformation to trust in media still recovering from an all-time low. So as the media and journalism industry continue the struggle for trust and influence, here are Chris Waiting's top five predictions for 2022. 

Welcome to our new feature: “The J-School Beat” featuring journalism students across the country and their ideas about the future of journalism, the industry and their hopes of making an impact in our world. To start this column, E&P asked Reanne White, a junior at the University of South Florida, to give us her answers to a couple of those questions.

Even as the world of commerce changes, sales remains one of the solid pillars for every size and type of business. In his new book, “Selling with a Servant Heart: Ten Lessons on the Path to Joy and Increased Income,” Jim Doyle helps salespeople and sales managers evolve from a “peddler to a partner.”

Newspapers of various sizes across the country have discovered a proactive program of organizing and hosting events and sponsorships. As a result, they’ve increased revenues, created opportunities for local businesses to engage with organizations and the public differently and strengthened the perception of newspapers as the leading supporter and voice of their communities.

Christopher Jones is a former U.S. Marine turned photojournalist and investigative reporter, whose bylines have appeared in The New York Times, Vox, Pacific Standard magazine, USA Today, The Washington Post and other outlets. Earlier this year, Jones penned a column about the press' failure to meaningfully cover extremists. Instead, he's seen national outlets parachute in and out, and TV news broadcast “riot porn.” Part of that reluctance to report on these groups and personalities may have to do with fear — of the subjects themselves and political backlash.

One of the biggest demands coming from inside newsrooms around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is for leaders to take ownership of the harm they’ve committed or overseen. They also need to hold themselves accountable for future strategies and behaviors, and their newsrooms teams are asking them to.

Our inaugural class of 15 Sales Superstars stand out in their ability to stand up against today's challenging times, stay focused and get the job done for their customers, their communities and the companies they represent. With extreme appreciation and celebration, we introduce E&P's first class of Sales Superstars.           

McClatchy has begun experimenting with publishing transitional real estate stories with artificial intelligence software. And, it's hardly the first news organization to explore the benefits of automated journalism, which in theory can free up journalists from more mundane tasks — if it doesn’t cost them their jobs.

Fellows receive stipends ranging from $20,000-$80,000 for projects aimed at making positive, practical impacts in journalism.

“We think a good deal about appropriate moments to prompt a reader to pursue a different story or a different topic altogether.”

An unvaccinated Sarah Palin tested positive for COVID-19 Monday, forcing a postponement of the start of a trial in her libel lawsuit against The New York Times.

Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises is asking its shareholders to help it fight off a hostile takeover offer from “vulture hedge fund” Alden Global Capital.

A dedicated beat reporter can develop expertise in the nuances, policy implications and people that shape a subject as complex as child care — all while, hopefully, building public interest and rewarding it with new understanding.

Most legal experts agree that Palin’s chances of winning the case are pretty low. But it’s not completely out of the question.

The complaints allege the company has deployed "dark patterns," design tricks that can subtly influence users’ decisions in ways that are advantageous for a business.

Google filed a motion Friday asking a federal court to dismiss most of the counts in an antitrust lawsuit led by the state of Texas.

WAN-IFRA's new report looks into how 10 European newspapers adopted an audience-centric mindset during the Table Stakes Europe program, allowing them to serve their audiences with targeted content, and helping to transform casual readers into loyal subscribers. Their stories can also be explored in the Knowledge Base, a new resource center dedicated to digital transformation and audience-focused workflows.

Sarah Childress will join The Washington Post from PBS Frontline, where she is a senior series editor and has partnered with local and national outlets on award-winning multimedia investigations.

Anastasia Marks and Christine Zhang are joining The New York Times as members of its Editing Residency. Aodhan Beirne, a senior news assistant, is also joining the cohort.

The marketing and communications team welcomes Chandra Cooks as a managing director of marketing for the Games mission.

Candy Parks, advertising manager for the Park Rapids Enterprise, will retire at the end of January. Todd Keute will assume publisher and advertising director responsibilities at the paper.

Stacker, a data-driven newswire, is welcoming six new team members this month, representing 25% growth across the organization.

Thought leaderships will illuminate the power of AI during upcoming webinar.

Humans have told stories through pictures for millennia. The long tradition of sequential art brought us the comic strip in the late 1800s, and William Randolph Hearst founded King Features Syndicate shortly after that. Today, King Features’ classic comics are treasured by millions, while King works to develop new products, services, and voices for the 21st century.

Column announces CherryRoad Media as the latest publishing partner to rollout Column's enterprise public notice solution. CherryRoad is one of the fastest-growing publishing groups in the country, following a string of acquisitions in markets across eight states.