Following a challenging few weeks in the news industry and tense contract negotiations with management, journalists at Forbes and The New York Daily News walked off the job on Thursday.

Due to tense contract negotiations with management and a challenging few weeks for the news industry, journalists at Forbes and The New York Daily News walked off the job on Thursday.

Both strikes are historic: it’s the first-ever business-focused magazine in more than a century and the first at the storied newspaper in more than three decades, according to the NewsGuild of New York.

Daily News employees and supporters protested outside the midtown Manhattan office, closed since 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak, on the same day as the Forbes walkout. The location is a modest co-working space. It was the nation's largest-circulating newspaper when it was founded in 1919.

Protestors marched around a building, holding posters promoting "New York Needs Its Hometown Paper" and "Alden to News: Drop Dead," referencing a 1975 tabloid headline. They also erected a big inflatable rat, which is a fixture at other union demonstrations. 

The labor union's moves coincide with a turbulent period for media companies, since more and more of them are owned by billionaires. Significant job layoffs were announced this week by Time magazine and Condé Nast, the publisher of prestigious magazines including GQ, Vanity Fair, and Vogue. Condé Nast Publishing employees embarked on a single-day walkout.

Subsequently, over 100 workers, or over 20% of the newsroom, were let go by the Los Angeles Times, and last week, workers protested by going on strike.