[As I avowed in my last post
on Rick On Theater, “Woke
Art Labeled ‘Aesthetically Terrifying’“ (30 August 2026), I’m virtually a
First Amendment absolutist. I entirely
believe in a free press, unfettered, uncensored, unimpeded. In support of that position, I’m republishing
the article below, “Real Life In Real Time,” a collection of short reports by
actual journalists in the field about some of the difficulties they’re facing
in these uncertain times.
[The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the union that represents film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, recording artists, singers, voice actors, and other media professionals worldwide, which publishes the magazine SAG-AFTRA, from which this article is drawn, is dominated by actors. It was formed by a merger in 2012 of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
[All of SAG’s membership and most of AFTRA’s were actors, so the magazine’s coverage is also most often about actors and their concerns (such as AI and intimacy coordinators), even after the merger made on-air journalists and spokespeople our brothers and sisters. The image of the union (and therefore the magazine—which used to be called Screen Actor) is inevitably actors in movies, TV, radio, and other media.
[“Real Life In Real Time” stood out for me because it wasn’t about actors or acting, since the journalists are our colleagues—and in jeopardy. (The union may be dominated by the actor-members, but we’re not spotlighted in the Constitution. The journalists are. They’re there explicitly; were only there implicitly!)
[Let’s also not forget that while the news may report on theater-movies-TV/radio, theater-movies-TV/radio is often drawn from the news (like Good Night, and Good Luck and All the President’s Men—and even the comedies like The Front Page).
[There is a long history of artists, including theater and film artists, lending their skills and power in defense of reporters’, anchors’, and editors’ freedom to do their work and to assure their safety while doing it. In 1947, when the House Un-American Activities Committee began its witch-hunts, Hollywood icons Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Huston, and Gene Kelly formed the Committee for the First Amendment. HUAC didn’t just target Hollywood screenwriters—it threatened the editorial independence of newsrooms and journalists nationwide.
[The Hollywood stars famously flew to Washington, D.C., to protest the hearings, acting as an elite shield of artistic prestige to defend the broader, fundamental right of journalists and citizens to speak and report without government persecution.
[Before All the President’s Men (1976) was a classic film, Robert Redford made a personal mission of the defense of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s reporting. Redford bought the film rights to the story before the Watergate investigation was even finished or universally validated.
[At a time when the Richard Nixon administration (1969-74) was actively trying to discredit and legally crush the Washington Post, Redford used his massive Hollywood capital to legitimize, fund, and protect the narrative of investigative journalism. He consciously used his status as an artist to build a cultural fortress around the integrity of the free press.
[As a fierce defender of free speech, former president of PEN International, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, for PEN and the Helsinki Watch Committee in 1985 alongside fellow playwright (and future Nobel Laureate) Harold Pinter to investigate allegations of the military junta’s torture and persecution of writers, journalists, and political dissidents.
[The two writers held a defiant press conference at the Turkish Journalists Association headquarters which the Turkish government had authorized. Immediately after the meeting, however, the authorities prohibited the press to report it. Learning later that a military warrant had been issued for their arrest in Istanbul, the two dramatists rushed to the airport and flew out precipitously.
[In 1997, the Creative Coalition, an advocacy group that encourages increased support of the arts and other causes, established the Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award, given regularly to prominent figures, including journalists, who fight against censorship and defend human expression. Reeve had taken a high-profile international stand for free expression in Santiago, Chile, in 1987 at the height of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.
[It’s the cross-over that makes this coverage significant to me: artists standing in defense of reporters, rather than artists standing for other artists. The amalgamation of SAG and AFTRA has concretized a symbiotic relationship that has always existed. Protecting the truth-tellers is the only way to protect the storytellers. It’s just like Martin Niemöller’s poem “First They Came” (see “Manifesto” in “Helen Katz Kaye Eleasari (1934-2020)“ [22 April 2022]).
[That famous poem perfectly captures the danger of a fragmented creative community failing to see that if we don’t speak out when there’s an attack on the press, when there’s an attack on the arts, there may be no one left to speak out!]
“A LETTER FROM THE
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT”
by Linda Powell
[Below is a message-cum-editorial by the Executive Vice President of SAG-AFTRA. Published in the Spring 2026 issue (Volume 15, Number 2) of SAG-AFTRA, the union’s membership publication, it serves as a preface to the article that follows. (Both Powell’s letter and the article, “Real Life In Real Time,” are posted in the online edition of Spring 2026.)]
“Journalists are under strain — facing regulatory uncertainty, disrespect and shrinking newsroom resources.”
Dear Member,
I’ve sat down to write this magazine letter more than once and walked away from it. Not for lack of an idea or a point of view. I know exactly the challenge I want to explore. The obstacle is that I don’t have a solution to offer. The obstacle is the obstacles.
Our world is in transition. Transitioning to who or what and when is a mystery. I spend a lot of time representing members in rooms where the dizzying changes brought on by technology, by corporate consolidation, by the fragmentation of our media sources and by the shifting political landscape are the focus of conversation. That’s true both within our union and among the wider family of labor where SAG-AFTRA gathers with siblings around the country — and around the world. These issues are universal, and while individual challenges differ, the threats are the same: threats to our wages, to our working conditions, to our benefits, to our stability, to our jobs and to unions themselves.
I am going to date myself with this: I am a radio listener. Sometimes it’s streamed (I’m not that old), but radio — especially morning radio — is my jam. Which is why, recently, when Paramount Skydance made the decision to shut down CBS News Radio, I was taken aback. [Paramount Skydance is the multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that owns, among other properties, Paramount Motion Picture Group and CBS Entertainment Group.]
CBS News Radio has been a standard bearer for nearly a century. It was the home of Edward R. Murrow [1908-65] — a legendary broadcaster who exemplified journalism grounded in verification, independence and public trust.
Change is the only constant, yes. I don’t expect the radio of my grandparents to exist forever. Businesses will adjust and changes will be inevitable. As distribution evolves, audiences shift. I know all too well that the members facing layoffs at CBS are not alone. Our broadcasters have become all too familiar with this pattern. We often talk about the importance of belonging to a union in terms of wages and working conditions and benefits. Just as important are the advocacy and protections that come into play when work is abruptly terminated.
But what we are witnessing goes beyond job loss. It reaches the core of how information is produced and received.
Journalists are under strain — facing regulatory uncertainty, disrespect and shrinking newsroom resources. Meanwhile, algorithms in our “news feeds” reward speed, volume and reaction over verification. In that environment, credibility becomes harder to build and easier to erode. And truth becomes hard to agree on.
Corporations once prided themselves on their news divisions. Profit was not ignored, but it was not driven at the expense of product. Today, headlines often bear no relationship to the story below the fold. In our social media environment, the news I’m seeing often bears no relationship to the news that you are seeing. Outrage bait increasingly drives our cultural conversations.
The broadcasters I stand next to have not changed; they are mission-driven and committed to hold power to account and serve the public with verified reporting. But the headwinds they face are growing stronger.
Circling back to where I started — I don’t have the answers to these obstacles. But I do know that, in this moment, supporting broadcast journalists with strong contracts, advocacy, resources and funding is not only crucial to our strength as a union, it is crucial to the health of our democracy.
In solidarity,
/s/ Linda Powell
[Linda Powell is the
current Executive Vice President of SAG-AFTRA and also serves as a trustee of
the SAG-AFTRA Health and SAG Pension plans. She’s a New York-based actress who’s appeared
on Broadway and off and has been seen on screen in such shows as Dopesick (miniseries; Disney+. 2021), House of
Cards (TV series; Netflix, 2013-18), Chicago Fire (TV
Series; NBC, 2012-present), Madam Secretary (CBS; TV series; 2014-19), Law
and Order: Special Victims Unit (TV series; NBC, 1999-present), and films
including The Report (Amazon Studios, 2019), I Think I Love My Wife (Fox
Searchlight, 2007), and American Gangster (Universal, 2007).
[Powell’s a proud member of Actors Equity Association and most recently enjoyed a long run as Neil Diamond’s therapist in the Broadway bio-musical A Beautiful Noise (Broadhurst Theatre, 2022-23).
[She was a Vice Chair of the negotiating committee for SAG-AFTRA’s recently ratified TV/Theatrical contract and is Chair of the board of advisors for the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York. (Linda Powell is the daughter of Alma and Colin Powell, the former United States National Security Advisor [1987-89], Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [1989-93], and Secretary of State [2001-05].)]
* *
* *
“REAL LIFE IN REAL
TIME”
[Like the letter from Linda Powell posted above, the article below is from SAG-AFTRA Volume 15, Number 2 (Spring 2026).]
SAG-AFTRA BROADCASTERS PRIORITIZE SAFETY IN THE FIELD
Reporting the news doesn’t come without its obstacles. For SAG-AFTRA broadcasters who find themselves in the field reporting breaking stories live, getting the right angle or an eyewitness’s interview brings a level of personal risk — particularly during and these perilous times.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a database established in 2017 to collect and analyze incidents in the field, reported January and February had the highest number of press freedom violations for the first two months of any year. Equipment searches and detainment by law enforcement, as well as physical assaults, are some of the tense situations news reporters experience. But other situations, such as natural disasters or standoffs involving law enforcement, can expose reporters to dangers to life and limb.
Truth-telling requires persevering in adverse circumstances. Today’s increasingly tense and volatile social and political climate has made broadcast reporting in the United States a more dangerous job than perhaps it has ever been. Here are accounts from five SAG-AFTRA broadcasters of how they stay safe — physically and mentally — so they can continue the important work of informing the public.
ALWAYS STAY READY
Anar Virji, Field Producer
for Al Jazeera English
“When I think of safety, I think about what that means for all of us working together. I encourage colleagues to speak up if they have a concern, and I plan as much as I can before we go out. That means advocating for safety and first aid training at work, and then using that to organize before you go on assignment.
“Things that I keep in my travel gear include a medical kit, a headlamp in case we lose electricity, and backup batteries to charge electronics. Then I try to think site-specific: Are we going into protests? Is it a hurricane or other weather event? What sort of access will we have to food, water and bathrooms? Will we have cellphone service? These answers come from [having] experience, talking to colleagues and speaking to people in the area.
“For protests, I’ve found that gas masks are incredibly useful safety gear. I also pack an extra foldable duffle bag to put my clothes in if I’m tear-gassed or pepper-sprayed.
“For feature stories I’ve produced, I’ve traveled to Native Alaskan and Native American villages without hotels and have slept in a school or camped. In those situations, we were also without regular cellphone service, which meant speaking with editors about when we expected to be back in range, something also essential in natural disasters.
“My strategy is always to think long-term and collectively about safety. That makes it easier, rather than thinking of it only when stories [are unfolding].”
BRINGING IN THE CAVALRY
Chip Mitchell, Reporter
for WBEZ Chicago
“I’ve had my share of hazardous reporting assignments over the years. I’ve traveled along rural Colombian highways when kidnapping for ransom was a threat. I’ve been up close to NATO summit protesters clashing with police in downtown Chicago, and on the South Side, I had reported on the city’s first widespread looting and gun violence after George Floyd’s killing [25 May 2020].
“Then, one Friday evening last September, my bosses sent me to an ICE processing facility, just west of Chicago, as President Trump’s deportation blitz was hitting high gear. A couple hundred protesters were chanting and jeering at ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents. I saw feds responding with pepper balls, tear gas, chemical sprays and stun grenades. ‘Stinger’ [a tactical, “less-lethal” crowd-control weapon explicitly designed to explode and spray dozens of small rubber projectiles] detonations showered the crowd with rubber pellets.
“My employer, a nonprofit that owns a public radio station and major newspaper, was starting to outfit its reporters and photographers with gas masks, goggles, helmets, vests, decontamination wipes and so on. I had what I needed that night. I knew [when] to step back and avoid getting caught between the protesters and agents.
“But I faced a safety challenge the equipment and positioning could not address. Once the agents started using the riot-control weapons, the event became big news. I was expected to supply reports to the radio station, its national network, the newspaper, two websites and a live blog. That would be challenging under the best of circumstances, but especially on a night when [there weren’t] many editors on duty. So, I didn’t get much help prioritizing the news outlets and deadlines — not to mention making decisions about sourcing and safety risks.
“I had to spend a lot of time thumbing around on my phone, trying to rustle up off-duty editors and begging for coordination. The phone work required looking down at the device when I should have been looking up and devoting my full attention to things like protester arrests and teargas canisters.
“I didn’t get hurt. Over the next few days, though, I let newsroom managers know they had dropped the ball on editor staffing that night, that it hurt our coverage and that it could have jeopardized my safety.
“One thing I appreciated was having a union. We had organized a SAG-AFTRA unit at the radio station a decade earlier. During those conversations with bosses, I knew that the union would have my back if I needed it. That support strengthened my confidence to communicate clearly with management.”
[WBEZ is a non-commercial educational radio station in Chicago. It’s the National Public Radio news outlet in the city.]
SAFETY IS MORE THAN A WORD
Frankie McLister, Reporter
for WCCO-TV, CBS News Minnesota
“‘Safety is the No. 1 priority’ sounds quite cliché — but to me, it’s cliché for a reason. As a reporter in Minneapolis, I’ve been tested to keep this phrase at the forefront of my mind, especially throughout our coverage of Operation Metro Surge, the nearly two-month-long surge of 3,000 federal agents to the state [4 December 2025-12 February 2026].
“At all times, I have the proper gear. This includes pepper spray in every bag I keep handy, in the side compartment of my vehicle and, sometimes, right in my pocket during a live shot. Additionally, I often find myself communicating with my photojournalist and security guard (if one is provided — though in general, we’ve had a lot of security assistance during large-scale news events). I tell them I’m watching their backs, and this prompts them to keep safety at the forefront and reinforces that I view [the work] as a team effort.
“When I say I’m always watching — I’m truly always watching. And I think it’s important to communicate that. My badge is on hand, and I’m also mindful of what I’m wearing and where I’m wearing it. For example, if I’m in a part of town with a higher crime rate, I might choose not to wear my shiny watch.
“Once you keep the lines of communication open and make safety your first priority, it becomes natural. My goggles were already around my neck while covering several events involving tear gas — and that’s when I knew it was no longer a second thought, just like a seatbelt in the car.”
TEAMWORK REMAINS WHEN
TRAGEDY ENDS
Annie Rose Ramos, General
Assignment Reporter for KTLA 5 News
“In Los Angeles, SAG-AFTRA members at KTLA [television station in Los Angeles, California] have partnered with station management to address field safety concerns during contract negotiations with Nexstar [multimedia conglomerate founded in 1996, the largest television broadcasting company in the United States, owning 265 television stations]. In the aftermath of the devastating wildfires in 2025 [7-31 January] . . . conditions were unpredictable in the field.
“For days, the ground was still smouldering [sic; British spelling]. In the weeks [afterward], the air was difficult to breathe. For months, toxic debris lay on the ground. As field teams, we wanted to ensure we were being mindful of the health impacts, working with our station to create kits that included hazmat suits, goggles, masks and water.
“We continued to remain proactive when it concerned the hazardous area so many neighborhoods had become in the wake of the wildfires. Backyards had broken branches. Power lines were down and snaked along the streets. Electric car batteries were melted into the ashes and rubble. It was about watching where you walked, where you turned, what you touched. Managers at our station knew that, too. They kept a watchful eye, and if we didn’t see something that could pose a risk, they did — they called us and advised us to move locations. It was about teamwork, and continues to be, to ensure safety.”
CLARITY, DOCUMENTATION AND
DISCIPLINE
JJ Green, National
Security Correspondent for WTOP
“Disinformation is not abstract. It is kinetic.
“In heated political seasons, lies do not simply distort facts, they weaponize audiences. When a journalist is falsely labeled a traitor, partisan operative, foreign agent or enemy of the people, that narrative does not stay online. It migrates. It hardens. It radicalizes. And eventually, it can show up in a parking lot, outside a home or at a crowded public event.
“We have seen the progression. Smear campaigns escalate into coordinated harassment. Harassment metastasizes into doxxing [publishing the private personal information of someone or revealing the identity of an online poster without the consent of that individual; also doxing]. Doxxing produces stalking. And stalking can become violence. The risk matrix for journalists now includes physical surveillance, targeted intimidation, online swatting [causing a SWAT team (from Special Weapons and Tactics, a military-like unit within U.S. police forces) to be deployed on an unsuspecting victim, especially a public figure or someone prominent on social media by falsifying a threat, often as a punishment or retaliation] attempts and threats amplified by algorithmic outrage cycles. Disinformation collapses the distinction between rhetoric and action.
“For national security reporters, especially those covering intelligence, war, extremism or political corruption, the danger compounds. False narratives are designed to delegitimize professional reporting. They seek to isolate the journalist from the public, to frame truth-telling as treachery, and to create a permissive environment for intimidation.
“The first countermeasure is narrowing the firehose [the massive, relentless, and overwhelming flood of false information and online provocations used by manipulators], refusing to react to every provocation and denying manipulators oxygen. The second is discipline and documentation, maintaining rigorous transparency in reporting to inoculate against narrative distortion. The third is threat awareness, monitoring online chatter patterns, recognizing coordinated amplification and understanding when rhetoric crosses into credible risk. Finally, resilience, both psychological and procedural. Calm is a defensive tool. Emotional reactivity is an exploitable vulnerability.
“Disinformation thrives on fear, anger and spectacle. My defense is clarity, documentation and discipline.
“Because in a season where lies travel faster than light, survival, professional and physical, depends on refusing to let them control the battlefield.”
[WTOP is an all-news radio station in Washington, D.C.]
MAKING CHANGE WHERE
HISTORY IS TOLD
Bob Butler’s Story
Journalists have always faced challenges in the field, but safety has become a greater concern as public demonstrations became more commonplace, said SAG-AFTRA Vice President, Broadcasters, Bob Butler, a veteran reporter in radio and television.
“I worked at KCBS Radio in San Francisco for 42 years,” said Butler, who retired in 2023. “As a reporter, I never had to worry about my personal safety until the Oscar Grant riots in 2010 [following the police shooting on 1 January 2009] and Occupy Wall Street Demonstrations in 2011 [17 September-15 November]. The most difficult times are during protests and demonstrations, especially when [people] start marching. The danger came mostly from being in crowds that were hit by police tear gas.”
In the field, Butler’s Golden Rule was to employ the buddy system with himself and his fellow crewmate, often a photographer, or, when working alone, to stay with other journalists in a group. In the newsroom, bringing attention to safety risks led to advocating for more safety precautions.
“The AFTRA [nb: these events predate the 2012 SAG-AFTRA merger] local staff instituted safety briefings that included news reporter members, management, photographers, leadership from the technical unions and law enforcement. These meetings led to best practices designed to keep crews safe,” said Butler. “A couple of the steps that were taken here in San Francisco were for television stations to hire security guards for their news crew [and] purchase cameras with tracking devices.”
Still, Butler points to a need for the concern for broadcasters to be shared across the board.
“Broadcast journalists face a number of challenges from political leaders, ambivalent managers and an increasingly skeptical electorate. Adding threats to our personal safety makes our job of providing information to keep the public informed even more difficult.”
