Larry Cohen

Journalism Union Helped Push Nuclear Option, HuffPo Admits
By Mike Ciandella | November 22, 2013 | 10:50 AM EST

The Communications Workers of America, which includes a prominent journalism union, is taking credit for Sen. Harry Reid’s use of the nuclear option. That option is a Senate rule which prevents the GOP from blocking presidential nominees. CWA president Larry Cohen said that his group was “all over this ” and that “[t]his is finally a significant step,” according to The Huffington Post. CWA even issued a press release commending Reid.

The article referred to the Communications Workers of America, headed by the outspoken liberal Cohen, as “part of a coalition of progressive groups.” However, the Newspaper Guild, which is part of CWA, is comprised of “over 34,000 media workers at wire services, newspapers, magazines, labor information services, broadcast news, public service and dot com companies.” Ironically, part of the Guild’s mission is “Raise the standards of journalism and ethics of the industry.”

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Communications Union Head Chafes at ‘Limits of Democracy’
By Scott Robbins | May 15, 2012 | 4:47 PM EDT

As an ever-shrinking number of newspaper readers can attest, most major U.S. papers skew liberal. But its not every day the head of a union representing journalists lays out a list of goals that might have been written by MoveOn.org, and displays a contempt for democracy more at home on the editorial pages of state-run organs in third-world dictatorships.

But there was Larry Cohen, AFL-CIO Organizing Committee chair and President of Communication Workers of America (CWA), of which the Newspaper Guild is part, calling on progressives to “unite in a years-long campaign to restore and reclaim both workers rights and U.S. democracy.” According to report on the Guild’s website, Cohen was addressing the Women’s National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C., when he declared that reclaiming democracy would mean overcoming, well, democracy. “The limits of democracy alone have blocked us,” Cohen said.

Making Bias Official: Newspaper Guild Applauds Obama Gay Marriage Views
By Scott Robbins | May 11, 2012 | 2:31 PM EDT

If you doubted where many journalists stand on gay marriage, don’t. The Newspaper Guild, which is part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), joined with other unions, such as the AFL-CIO, in expressing its support for Obama on homosexual marriage. President Larry Cohen of the CWA stated: 

 "The Communications Workers of America stands with the President and those who support equality and human rights.”