Earlier today, at least five employees at Periscope walked out in objection to the actions of parent company Quad, which acquired the formerly independent Minneapolis agency in 2018.
Among those walking out from the agency is Periscope chief strategy officer Nathan Young, who recently co-founded 600 & Rising, a nonprofit dedicated to the advocacy and advancement of Black talent in advertising.
The walkout addresses the primary concerns of alleged interference by Quad in Periscope’s social media communications about the Black Lives Matter movement (until recently barring the use of that phrase) and concerns that Quad was releasing deceptive data about its employee diversity.
Now, Periscope’s entire copy editing department has joined the walkout in solidarity. Young tweeted about the development this afternoon:
The entire Copy Editing department at @Periscope has walked off in solidarity. We are tremendously grateful for their support and recognize that taking that step is no easier for them than it was for us.@QuadGraphics needs to clean up the mess they’ve made before we return.
— Nathan Young (@notnathan) July 1, 2020
Periscope content editing supervisor Stefanie Pinkey took to Twitter for the first time since 2015 to express her support and solidarity, saying, “If it’s easy, we’re not doing it right.”
If it’s easy, we’re not doing it right. Proud of this team, and proud to stand with @notnathan. #blacklivesmatter https://t.co/NaDbHnuVZv
— Stefanie (@stefpinkney) July 1, 2020
Before they return to work, employees are asking that Quad implement mandatory diversity and inclusion training for all levels of leadership and management, cease interference with Periscope’s “editorial independence” to produce its own content online and elsewhere and release full, accurate diversity data in line with parameters set out by 600 & Rising.
Quad claims it is working to address all of these concerns.